Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

On Tuesday the 31st January, at 7:45pm that the House of Commons voted against the government's version of the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. There were two votes held: in the first vote, the question was whether the RACIAL hatred laws would be changed, and the government was defeated by 10 votes. On the issue of the RELIGIOUS hatred laws, the government was defeated BY JUST ONE VOTE. Tony Blair voted in the first vote, but left before the second vote - thus the failure of the Prime Minister to vote meant victory for those opposing the government's version of the Bill. This means the House of Lords' version of the Bill will become law. The Lords' version was a dramatic improvement in the protection of the uninhibited freedom for Christians to preach the Gospel. It is now hard to envisage a case where a Christian, preaching from the word of God in good faith and from good motives, would fall foul of this legislation.