The Hate Crime Act is still proving to be a contentious subject for Herald readers.
Yesterday Justice Secretary Angela Constance, in her first interview since the Act took effect, criticised Police Scotland’s Hate Monster campaign and implied that the Scottish Government could have done more to communicate what the new law does and does not do.
Today, however, one of our correspondents takes issue with a more fundamental aspect of the legislation: that of religion being a protected characteristic.
Sandy MacAlister of Shiskine, Arran, writes:
“Scotland’s new hate crime law gives protection to the following categories: age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and transgender identity.
Most of the controversy so far has been focused on the trans issue particularly as it affects women.
While in no way seeking to minimise that issue’s importance, I believe there is another serious problem with this legislation, in the way it protects religions which are systems of thought or belief, which are choices people make of their own free will, to follow or not to follow.
The Scottish Government has created a situation in Scotland where criticism of belief could be held to be a crime no matter how outrageous that belief might seem to be.
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Those who believe in the great religions are entitled to respect for their views, but so are those of us who don’t believe, particularly if our views are expressed in the privacy of our own homes.
We must be free to speak our minds without having to worry about a knock on our door from a policeman, sent there by an anonymous complainant whose feelings have been hurt by our expression of disbelief at what they may believe to be unquestionable, but which to us might be, literally, unbelievable.
It’s not enough to say, as the FM does, that there are protections for freedom of speech in place. As others have observed, the process is also a punishment even if found innocent of any malign intent and the element of doubt introduced by the Act around what can and can’t be said is certain to have a chilling effect on public discourse, particularly when the police guidance on it is so vague and even representatives of the police are saying it is unworkable.
The SNP/Green administration should repeal this sinister, unworkable, legislation immediately. If not, Scottish Labour and the Liberal Democrats, most of whose MSPs voted for it, should guarantee to repeal the legislation as their first act if elected in 2026.”
