The Parliament of New Zealand is now considering a bill, 209-1, which would make it a crime to incite disharmony on the grounds of religious belief. The legislation, given the unwieldy title of “The Human Rights (Incitement on Ground of Religious Belief) Amendment Bill” has received its first reading in Parliament and is now being considered by a Select Committee.
An Explanatory Note on the bill states that “The Bill aims to improve protections for faith-based groups under the provisions of the principal Act that make speech that is likely to excite hostility unlawful,” and explains that the legislation “makes it unlawful for anyone to publish, distribute, or use threatening, abusive, or insulting written matter or words likely to excite hostility against or bring into contempt” any religion.
Issuing threats is one thing. Speech that expresses contempt, hostility, or insults is something quite different. Threats are an effort to control people through violence. They are an abusive prelude explicitly linked to the likelihood of physical harm.
Contempt, hostility, and insults, on the other hand, do nothing more than hurt people’s feelings.
Bill 209-1 would make it a crime in New Zealand to do anything that would hurt the feelings of religious people. It would ban any expression of contempt for any religious belief. It would prohibit insults against religious leaders. Bill 209-1 would make blasphemy a crime.
In doing so, if Bill 209-1 were applied without discrimination, without favoritism toward popular religions, would require banning the Christian bible. The Christian bible, after all, contains many passages that encourage hostility, express contempt, and direct insults at other religions and religious figures. Jesus himself is depicted in the gospels and Book of Revelation as encouraging hatred, engaging in verbal threats and physical violence, all on the basis of religious beliefs that differ from his. Jesus accuses Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity of belonging to a “Synagogue of Satan”, and promotes hatred of Christian sects that don’t agree with the theology of the prophet Paul. In other places, the Christian holy book celebrates the murder of people on the basis of their religious beliefs. The Book of Revelation eagerly anticipates the torture and execution of non-Christians through the slow crushing of their bodies in a winepress.
Bill 209-1 provides no protection whatsoever to non-religious people. Instead, the legislation establishes an asymmetrical arrangement in which religions are allowed to express hostility, contempt, and insults against non-religious people, while prohibiting non-religious people from engaging in similar expressions to criticize religion in return.
Bill 209-1 would convert New Zealand into a theocratic nation in which religious communities would remain free to insult, mock, and threaten non-religious citizens, who would be prohibited from saying anything critical of religion in response.