Month: September 2020

CNA Staff, Sep 4, 2020 / 03:32 pm (CNA).- Nearly 2,000 submissions have been made to the Scottish Parliament in the course of a 12-week public consultation on a hate crime bill proposed by the government.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill was introduced in April.

“The number of submissions we have received is unprecedented and reflects that this bill is contentious. Hundreds of individuals and organisations have written to us setting out their views on the offences that this bill would both create and abolish,” said Adam Tomkins, a Member of the Scottish Parliament from the Scottish Conservatives, according to the BBC.

Tomkins added: “Given the importance of this legislation – and the strength of feeling it is generating – it is vital that sufficient time is allowed for scrutiny.”

The Scottish bishops have expressed concern that the bill “creates an offense of possessing inflammatory material which, if taken with the low threshold contained therein, could render material such as the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other texts such as Bishops’ Conference of Scotland submissions to government consultations, as being inflammatory under the new provision.”

The proposed legislation creates a new crime of stirring up hatred against any of the protected groups covered by the bill, which include race, religion, sexual orientation, and transgender identity.

The “stirring up hatred” could be either “with the intention” of doing so, or “where it is a likely consequence that hatred will be stirred up against such a group”.

The Scottish government proposed the bill in response to an independent review of hate crime laws led by Alastair Campbell, Lord Bracadale, a retired judge. The government argues the bill modernizes, consolidates, and extends existing hate crime legislation. It also abolishes the offence of blasphemy.

A variety of groups have suggested the bill could stifle free speech.

The Scottish Police Federation said it “appears to paralyse freedom of speech in Scotland” and “could lead to police officers determining free speech and thereby devastate the legitimacy of the police service” and that it had regulations “too vague to be implemented”.

The federation’s general secretary, Calum Steele, said: “We do not for one second suggest that prejudice, racism or discrimination are desirable qualities in our society but the need to address those matters when they reach a criminal level is met by laws already in place and the cost to free speech of going further with this bill is too high a price to pay for very little gain.”

The Law Society of Scotland said that with its imprecision, the bill “presents a significant threat to freedom of expression, with the potential for what may be abusive or insulting to become criminalised”.

According to The Herald, a Glaswegian daily, the National Secular Society also opposes the hate crime bill.

Humza Yousaf, the Scottish Justice Secretary, has commented that the bill “does not seek to stifle criticism or rigorous debate in any way but aims to achieve the correct balance between protecting those who suffer from the scourge of hate crime whilst respecting people’s freedom of expression.”

“As Parliament considers the details of the Bill, we will work to find common ground and compromise where necessary. This is an issue around which Scotland’s Parliament can and must come together in order to protect the rights of everyone to live their lives free from harm or fear,” he added.

Yousaf said it “will not prevent you expressing controversial or offensive views,” while adding: “Just don’t do it in a threatening or abusive way that is likely or intended to stir up hatred.”

The Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament is due to consider the bill and its consultation by Dec. 18, though it may be delayed to allow for suitable scrutiny.

In their submission on the bill, the Scottish bishops noted that pronouncements of Catholic teaching on sex and gender “might be perceived by others as an abuse of their own, personal worldview and likely to stir up hatred.”

The bishops also noted that recently public figures have been accused of “transphobia” for arguing that men cannot become women and vice versa. They include the Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who lives in Scotland.

“Many have also been accused of hate for using pronouns corresponding with an individual’s biological or birth sex. The freedom to express these arguments and beliefs must be protected,” they wrote.

The bishops also said that “The growth of what some describe as the ‘cancel culture’ … is deeply concerning.”

“No single section of society has dominion over acceptable and unacceptable speech or expression. Whilst the legislature and judiciary must create and interpret laws to maintain public order it must do so carefully, weighing in fundamental freedoms and allowing for reasonably held views, the expression of which is not intended to cause harm.”

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CNA Staff, Sep 4, 2020 / 03:00 am (CNA).- Catholic bishops across Europe have expressed support for an archbishop who was refused entry to his homeland of Belarus. 

In a Sept. 3 statement, the presidency of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) said it hoped that Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz would be allowed to return home immediately.

“While ensuring their own prayers for the beloved pastor and for the whole Belarusian community, they hope for an immediate return home for the Archbishop of Minsk and a resumption of his episcopal ministry,” the statement on behalf of bishops from 45 European countries said.

The archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev was turned back by border guards when he attempted to return to Belarus Aug. 31 following a trip to Poland. He told CNA Sept. 1 that he was “very much surprised” and had demanded an official explanation. 

The incident occurred amid ongoing demonstrations in Belarus following a disputed presidential election Aug. 9. The incumbent, Alexander Lukashenko, claimed victory with 80% of the vote. His challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was detained after she complained to the electoral committee, then fled to Lithuania. 

The decision to stop Kondrusiewicz, a Belarusian citizen, from returning home has provoked international concern. Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, urged the Belarusian authorities Sept. 1 to readmit Kondrusiewicz to the country.

Belarusian authorities should allow the re-entry of Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, so he can tend to his flock during the ongoing protests. He and all Belarusian people must be allowed to exercise their fundamental freedoms, including freedom to worship. https://t.co/S5Gyiq7SdB

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 1, 2020

The archbishop had spoken out in defense of protesters following the election. 

He demanded an investigation last week into reports that riot police blocked the doors of a Catholic church in Minsk while clearing away protesters from a nearby square.

He prayed outside of a prison Aug. 19 where detained protesters were reported to have been tortured.

Kondrusiewicz met with Interior Minister Yuri Karaev Aug. 21 to express his concerns about the government’s heavy-handed response to the protests.

He told CNA that he feared the country was heading towards civil war.

“The situation is very, very difficult, very critical,” he said.

Catholics in Belarus will hold a day of prayer Sept. 7 for the archbishop’s swift return to the country.

The CCEE statement was issued by its secretariat in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The organization, which was officially established in 1971, has 39 members, comprising 33 bishops’ conferences, the Archbishops of Luxembourg, the Principality of Monaco, the Maronite archbishop of Cyprus, the bishop of Chişinău, Moldova, the eparchial bishop of Mukachevo, and the apostolic administrator of Estonia.

The group’s statement said: “The CCEE Presidency expresses the closeness of the entire European Episcopate to Msgr. Kondrusiewicz and to the Church in Belarus in this delicate matter and makes their own the appeal of Pope Francis ‘to dialogue, the rejection of violence and respect for justice and law.’ And, together with the Pope, entrust ‘all Belarusians to the protection of Our Lady, Queen of Peace.’”

The CCEE concluded by saying that Europe’s bishops “encourage everyone to commit themselves to peacefully resolve the conflict and to pursue, with confidence, the path of dialogue for the good of man and of society as a whole.”

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