Ministerial Compromise Averts Backbench Revolt Over Repeal of Blasphemy Offence

The Church of England gave a cautious welcome last night to the government's pledge to consult it before taking a final decision on repealing the ancient offense of blasphemy.

Downing Street's announcement that it is consulting the churches, particularly the Anglican church, before scrapping the offense came only hours before a Commons vote on the issue.

Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, said the government had faced defeat. "It is a pretty arcane law," he said. "It is old and unnecessary, and it does need to be modernized. What they need to do is bring that forward as quickly as possible."

A Church of England spokesman said last night it became clear last year during the debates on the crime of incitement to racial and religious hatred that the church was open to the idea of the blasphemy law being abolished. "But first there has to be adequate time to assess the impact of the new legislation," he added.

The government has said it will introduce amendments to the criminal justice bill when it reaches the Lords if the consultations with the churches prove positive. "I think it is right there is a proper process and a proper consultation before there is change in legislation," said a Downing Street spokesman.

The case to scrap blasphemy, a common law offense which protects Christianity from "scurrilous vilification", was strengthened last month when the high court threw out an attempted private prosecution of the BBC for screening the musical Jerry Springer: the Opera. The judge said the Theaters Act 1968 and Broadcasting Act 1990 prevented the prosecution of a theater or the BBC for blasphemy.

Dr Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat MP whose amendment to the criminal justice and immigration bill provoked the government move, welcomed the concession. "As a result of the government's acceptance of the need to repeal ... Britain will no longer have an ... illiberal blasphemy offense and will be in a far better position to ensure respect for human rights in countries like Sudan, Pakistan and elsewhere," he said.

Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society said the blasphemy law was harsher now than when one of his predecessors was jailed for the offense in 1921."In a multicultural society no one should have the right not to be offended; we should protect people, not beliefs," he said. Don Horrocks of the Evangelical Alliance warned repeal would signal that protecting Jesus, God and the Bible was no longer regarded as so important.

While the government's commitment on blasphemy headed off one Labour backbench revolt last night, ministers suffered another over a ban on prison officers from taking industrial action. Amendments incorporating the strike ban into the criminal justice and immigration bill were passed by 481 votes to 46. But 35 Labour MPs voted against the government including Vaz and Kate Hoey. The government also announced a six-month review of the prostitution laws in response to a move by Fiona Mactaggart MP to fine those who repeatedly pay for sex in local authority declared "safety zones".

Backstory

The common law offense of blasphemy was confirmed as a legal dead letter last month when the high court rejected a private prosecution by conservative Christians against the BBC for showing Jerry Springer: the Opera. The BBC has long been protected by its charter, as the morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse discovered in 1972 when she tried to invoke blasphemy laws over an episode of Till Death Us Do Part questioning the virgin birth. The last man jailed for blasphemy was John William Gott, of the Freethought Socialist League, who was sentenced to nine months' hard labour in 1922 for a pamphlet in which he described Christ's entry into Jerusalem as a circus clown astride two donkeys. The only other successful case was a private prosecution for blasphemous libel in 1977 brought by Whitehouse against Gay News for a poem describing a Roman centurion's explicit love for Christ. Denis Lemon, the editor, got a suspended sentence and a fine.