‘Disastrously bad’ messaging, but Christians are protected

Messaging from the Scottish Government and Police Scotland concerning the recently implemented Hate Crime and Public Order Act has been ‘disastrously bad,’ but Christian views are protected, according to Christian Institute Deputy Director Simon Calvert.

He stressed that while there are problems with the law, such as the inclusion of ‘stirring up hatred’ offences covering contested areas such as religion and sexuality, Christian views are protected.

He said: ‘The important thing for Christians in Scotland to remember is that the law is still on the side of free speech. We campaigned heavily on the Hate Crime Bill as it went through the Scottish Parliament and helped secure a series of important concessions which, taken together and properly applied, protect the ability of Christians to wisely and faithfully explain biblical truth without being convicted of a hate crime.’

There has been much confusion and furore surrounding the controversial legislation which came into force on 1st April in Scotland. Police Scotland have been inundated with over 8000 hate crime complaints within its first fortnight, with officers, who are reported to have only received one two-hour training module concerning hate crime, struggling to cope. 

According to The Telegraph, if this rate of reporting was to continue throughout the year, hate crime would comfortably surpass reports concerning all other crime in Scotland.

Calvert said: ‘The messaging around the new law from the Scottish Government and the Police has been disastrously bad. Predictably, the police are being overwhelmed by a flood of complaints from those who feel they can accuse their opponents of hatred in order to get them into trouble. 

‘Police Scotland’s patronising and inaccurate hate monster campaign to raise awareness of the new law encouraged people to believe that they can report anything they regard as hateful to the police as a criminal offence. This is not what the law says.’

This was arguably shown by the decision by Police Scotland not to criminalise Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, perhaps the most high-profile challenge of the legislation so far. Rowling referred to several transgender women as men on X/Twitter on 1st April, in which she challenged the police to arrest her, but warned that ‘freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal.’

Scottish Government ministers have argued that the Hate Crime Act sets a high bar for incidents to be considered criminal. A Scottish Government spokesperson said: ‘The Hate Crime Act will help to tackle the harm caused by hatred and prejudice to victims and communities. It introduces new offences for threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred based on prejudice towards characteristics including religion.

‘The legislation does not prevent people expressing controversial, challenging or offensive views, nor does it seek to stifle criticism or rigorous debate in any way, and the right to freedom of expression is specifically built into the Act.

‘The Act has a high threshold for criminality. For the new offences in the legislation, it has to be proven that the behaviour is threatening and/or abusive and that it is intended to stir up hatred.

‘We know the impact on those on the receiving end of such behaviour, whether it’s physical, verbal or online attacks, can be traumatic and life-changing and we want to protect those affected.’