Any new incitement to hatred law should be written with care to avoid intolerance of free speech, the Evangelical Alliance has said following Government proposals this week.

|PIC1|The Alliance, which represents more than a million evangelical Christians in the UK, has reiterated its opposition to any incitement of homophobic or other forms of hatred.

However, it has added that it is hopeful the Government will consult carefully if it decides to go ahead with banning incitement on grounds of sexuality in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill.

Evangelical Alliance head of public affairs Dr Don Horrocks said: "We support legislation that seeks effectively to prevent the stirring up of hatred, but our view remains that the existing law was adequate to deal with offences relating both to religion and sexuality.

"The obvious difficulty in attempting to legislate in this area is that there is a real risk of free speech being severely curtailed and people consequently feeling afraid to engage in legitimate debate, unless the law is clearly defined."

In Monday's debate of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill the Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw, announced that the Government intended to table an amendment to extend the offence of incitement to racial hatred to cover hatred against persons on the basis of their sexuality.

The homosexual rights lobbyists Stonewall has been pushing for just such an amendment.

However, the Lawyers Christian Fellowship (LCF) has said, "It is disappointing that the Government has adopted the proposal."

Andrea Minichiello Williams, Public Policy Officer of the LCF, has said: "As Christians we believe that one should not hate homosexuals or incite hatred against them, but should reflect the love of Christ to all people.

"However, the concern we have about this proposal is the danger it poses to the freedom to speak openly about the bible's teaching on sex and sexuality.

"Our view is that a law prohibiting incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexuality is unnecessary, as the criminal law already prohibits physical and verbal assaults as well as the use of threatening language and behaviour against homosexuals, as it does against all people irrespective of their sexual orientation."

In the debate a number of members of parliament, whilst supporting the amendment in principle, urged caution when balancing any new law with the right to freedom of speech.

It was suggested that the starting point for any such law should be the law on incitement to religious hatred, which now includes protection for freedom of speech, thanks to extensive Christian lobbying as the law was passed through Parliament.

John Redwood referred to the communications he had received from concerned Christians, and Mr Straw also acknowledged that people had contacted him with similar concerns.

Minichiello Williams said, "It is important that we continue to keep concerns about freedom of speech and freedom of religion at the top of the agenda to ensure that any protections are not watered down in the drafting process.

"We will be keeping a close eye on the wording of any such amendment once it is made available."

Dr Horrocks has also said, "If the Government feels it is necessary to bring in further legislation, it is important that the Racial and Religious Hatred Act is used as the benchmark, since this recently-enacted law against incitement of hatred on grounds of religion and belief represents the best legal precedent we have.

"It is widely considered that the religious hatred provisions struck the right balance between outlawing incitement of hatred and retaining freedom of speech by ensuring that offences must be intentional and covering only language that is threatening."

He concluded: "We look forward to discussing the as yet unformulated proposals with Government and, as in the case of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act, shall be looking to see appropriate definitions built into any proposed legislation to make it absolutely clear what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable speech."

One concerning matter, the LCF has highlighted, is that the Government has decided to rush through the committee stage of the Bill in order to have it finished by the Queen's speech on 6 November.

The committee will therefore have to finish their deliberations by 30 October.