It is becoming increasingly the case that
very senior public servants who have occupied well cushioned seats in the
judiciary, police or armed services and retaining influence in many quarters
reveal their underlying philosophies in retirement whether from the red benches
of the House of Lords or the ivory towers of Oxbridge. This week Lord Woolf, former Lord Chief
Justice, in a lecture at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies championed the
cause of protecting Muslims from being offended. He was of course referring to
recent tragic events in Paris.
* His comments were described by the
Archbishop of Canterbury as being, “not very helpful.” [see below full piece from The Times (behind its paywall)].
Muslims have generally lived as the
majority population of nations or states but more than 300 million Muslims, or one-fifth of
the world’s Muslim population, live in countries where Islam is not the
majority religion. That now includes
England. Often where there is a minority
Muslim population eg in India, Russia, China and Burma there has been inter-communal strife. In this country giving offence has been the
flip side of our concept of free speech just as outrageously enormous wages paid to four hundred footballers is the flip
side of capitalism and the concept of demand and supply economics.
S.5 of the Public Order Act 1986, after
much lobbying, has finally been amended to remove sections 5(1) and 6(4) by section 57 of
the Crime and Courts Act 2013. This amendment removed the word 'insulting' from
the two sections with effect from 1 February
2014. Police have been advised on changes in operation.
Unless Muslims in England, immigrants and
native born, are ready to accept the mores of this country and learn a degree
of tolerance that the other monotheistic religions with their various branches
from high church to low, from orthodox to reform, encompass I fear increasing levels of
confrontation. Lord Woolf`s remarks
serve only to encourage the extreme right wing who seize on such comments to
ferment their own brand of confrontation.
Such lordly myopia serves his fellow citizens of all faiths and none
little benefit; indeed he has to a degree fanned the flames of a combustible
situation.
*
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