Liverpool humanitarian David Alton criticized the move to create the “Islamaphobia Commission” as a potential ploy to lead to British Islamic laws against Islam.
Such laws in other countries violate the right to free speech and are used to persecute other members of their faith, rights advocates say.
British Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and the Ministry of Housing, Community and local government confirmed in a February 28th that a new working group has been established to provide the government with a ‘definition of work for anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia’s work within the next six months.
Alton, an independent crossbench member of the Senate and chairman of the Congressional Committee on Human Rights, has expressed harsh warnings against the nation facing similarities in the laws of the Blood Asp.
“The UK should take very careful steps before incorporating anything similar to British law, similar to blasphemous law,” Alton told Christian Daily International. “I have personally seen how in jurisdictions that have such laws, they are misused against other convictions and people without beliefs, such as death penalties and long-term incarceration.”
He said that laws of blasphemy can have a detrimental effect on freedom of speech.
“We should all learn to respect the deeply held alternative views and never use hate speech. The way we do this requires incredibly careful consideration and reflection,” Alton said.
According to Rayner, the working group was formed as “the highest number of cases of anti-Muslim hatred on record in 2024.” A website that documented such an incident, called The Tell Mama, recorded 51,000 British Muslims between 2012 and 2024, with a 2,253% increase in “street-based anti-Muslim hate cases.”
“The cases of anti-Muslim hatred are more threatening, more volume and more likely to peak at a significant rate due to the high frequency of domestic and international events,” says Tell Mama’s update.
Government working groups will not only provide guidance to authorities, but also provide a plan for the Safer Streets Mission (the government’s initiative to reduce violence) that will support further action to tackle religiously motivated hatred.”
“The rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes is unacceptable and we have no place in our society,” said Rayner, who led the group’s founding. “That’s why we have committed to defining anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia.
Former Conservative MP Dominique Greave, who is in the Commons House of Representatives, now independent of the House of Representatives, Rayner said, was chairman of the group, and “bringed his years of legal and government expertise to the role.”
“Islamophobia is as difficult to define as its existence is undoubtedly,” says Grieve. “We need to balance the living experiences of those who are IT victims with the rights of Muslims in the UK with the rights of those who feel heard and protected as equal citizens of our country.
Members of the working group are accused of ensuring that the country’s “various backgrounds and experiences and experiences of the Muslim community” are reflected in the definition of Islamophobia. However, critics are wary that the group appears to be in charge of determining whether it is acceptable to the Muslim community.
“The proposed definition of the group is non-empirical and provides the government and other relevant institutions with an understanding of unacceptable treatment and bias against the Muslim community,” the government’s press release states. “The proposed definition of the group must be compatible with the unchanging rights of British citizens to exercise freedom of speech and expression, including the right to criticize, express or insult the beliefs and practices of religion and/or supporters.”
Danny Webster, director of advocacy for the UK’s Evangelical Alliance, said the concept of Islamophobia should be set within the broader legal understanding of freedom to agree with people of other faiths.
“The definition of anti-Muslim hatred, or Islamophobia, must criticize religious beliefs and protect the freedom of others to help people change their beliefs,” Webster said.
He said that if a definition of Islamophobia is formed where views and opinions about perceived identity can be subjectively classified as “hate,” this is a major obstacle to freedom of expression and religion’s belief.
“It is important to encourage good relationships between people of different faiths. This is nurtured by accepting deep differences and allowing free expression, rather than criminalizing disagreements or pretending not to exist,” Webster said.
