Are the incitement to religious hatred proposals the same as the religious discrimination proposals?
No. Stirring up hatred against people because of their religious beliefs or lack of religious beliefs is a criminal matter whereas religious discrimination comes under civil law. The Government’s religious discrimination proposals are being taken forward as part of the Single Equality Commission Bill. They will afford protection from discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities, services or premises for followers of all religions. The new provisions on religious discrimination are intended to close a loophole where case-law has extended the protections of the Race Relations Act to followers of some religions, namely Jews and Sikhs, as they are recognised as mono-ethnic groups, but followers of other multi-ethnic religions are not equally protected.
