Religion

EU Compromise On Religious Hatred Ban Reached

European Union justice ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday gave in to Britain's objections and narrowed a proposed EU ban on incitement to religious hatred so that it will apply only if the incitement has racist intent. Reuters reports that this change assures that religion could still be criticized where the criticism is not racially motivated. However individual countries will still be permitted to punish religious hatred more broadly as well as to enforce individual laws against Holocaust denial.

UPDATE: A UPI report says that the EU's draft proposal has been worded so that it includes a ban on denying the Nazi Holocaust of World War II and the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The European Jewish Press says that the proposal bans: "publicly condoning, denying, or grossly trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes" as defined by international crime courts and in the charter of the Nuremberg court.

From Religion Clause posted 2007-04-18.