The Methodist Church has commented on the government’s latest consultation document entitled, ‘Preventing Extremism Together: Places of Worship’.

|TOP|Speaking in a press release, the Church’s response voiced serious concerns regarding parts of the proposals, which are aimed at combating extreme behaviour in places of worship.

Anthea Cox, Coordinating Secretary for Public Life and Social Justice commented, “We consider that action in this area is both unnecessary and counter-productive as there are very few instances where a place of worship has been used to foment terrorist behaviour.

“If the discussion of these issues is removed from places of worship, there will be no opportunity for those in the mainstream teaching of the faith to argue for alternative interpretations of the texts.”

She continued, “Because of such matters, we are strongly urging the government not to implement these proposals.”

In addition, there have also been concerns highlighting the fact that although the proposals are looking to cover all places of worship, it is felt that they would be seen as being brought about just to specifically target mosques.

|QUOTE|The Methodist Church point out that if these feelings are allowed to arise then the proposed legislation would only increase religious as well as social tensions.

The Methodist Church mentions, “There seems to be a real danger that the proposed measures could be more harmful than helpful.”

The latest opposition to government proposals to tackle the tensions and the stirring of religious hatred and extremism follow closely behind the overwhelming defeat for the government in trying to introduce the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill last month.

|AD|The Bill had been proposed by the government to outlaw incitement to religious hatred; however it has been widely criticised and condemned as going too far.

House of Lords’ peers voted by a majority of 149 to support a cross-bench move to implement freedom of speech safeguards into the proposals.

Opponents to the Bill have been hugely diverse, from the Evangelical Alliance and Christian Party, to comedian Rowan Atkinson and various Secular groups have all condemned the Bill as being drawn too widely and have expressed concerns that it could outlaw criticisms of beliefs.

Rev Katei Kirby, the African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance (ACEA) Chief Executive told, “It affects everyone so deeply. This is not just about doctrine. This is not even about theological opposition. This is about our basic freedom to speak and to preach.”

“It affects people's freedom to discuss and to critique anything because it might upset or offend somebody else and that is very serious.”

The Home Office did say after the Lords defeat that it would not accept the Tory and Liberal Democrat proposals, which were also backed by some Labour peers, because they could make it almost impossible for courts to convict under the law.

However, Charles Clarke is expected to amend his plans for the law after the heavy defeat on the government last night.