The UK government has published more details about a working group set up to advise it on a possible definition of Islamophobia which would also protect the right to “insult” religious beliefs and practices.
The membership of the working group appears to signal that the government is engaging with the recently launched British Muslim Network (BMN), but not the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) - the largest umbrella body claiming to represent British Muslims.
Dominic Grieve, a former Conservative attorney general, has been appointed chair of the group with BMN co-chair Akeela Ahmed among its four other members.
Ahmed’s inclusion in the working group comes just weeks after the official launch of the BMN in February with backing from faith minister Khan, and after Middle East Eye had previously revealed it had lost much of its Muslim support and was being backed by a charity set up by disgraced former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
This is a good thing, yes? Clearly they understand the dangers of a too wide definition, but it also is an actual problem.
So yeah they’re saying off the bat that it’ll still be fine to make jokes at the expense of silly archaic belief systems.
Singling out members of one religion for hatred and abuse is bad, but the right for rational people to take the piss out of everyone who has an imaginary friend to make them feel guilty is something that definitely needs to be a legal pastime