Wake up to hate crime

Here’s a term you’ll hear plenty of in 2021: hate crimes.

It’s a slippery term and means lots of different things to lots of different people. It can be just as easily weaponised by those on the left as by those on the right. For some, there’s no such thing. For others, hate crimes are happening every moment of every day and we need to use the laws of the land to make it stop.

Thought police?

From a Christian perspective, what makes the debates around hate crimes so intriguing is the extent to which they seek to regulate our thinking. By its very nature, hate crime require a collective agreement on what’s right and what’s wrong. Otherwise, how can the state pass laws that criminalise one school of thought over another? But what’s the basis for deciding what’s right or wrong?

It’s here that the Christian worldview has a distinct and clear advantage. In it there is code of conduct, if you will, namely, the unchanging law of God. To borrow a phrase, the moral law is an expression of the permanent will of God determining right and wrong, the speech, thoughts and actions of every human being who has ever lived and will live on planet earth. Laws that are based on the unchanging law of God, which originated outside of us find a sure footing and the foundation of such laws is solid.

One of the great tragedies of our society today is that we think we’ve grown beyond such ‘childish ideas’. Instead of using the law of God with all its wisdom and brilliance, we base some of our laws on subjective feelings and progressive wisdom. We seem to think we’ve outgrown the need for God and His law and have chosen to go our own way. The result is chaos. It’s exactly what Romans 1 speaks about. God has given us over to do what should not be done. The resulting family breakdown, social unrest, and cultural wars is ultimately down to this.

It’s not like our society doesn’t realise there are problems. God’s common grace means there is an impulse for justice. There’s a recognition that we don’t want to live in a society where people are constantly being insulted and ridiculed. To try and meet these impulses, the answer seems to be hate crime legislation. And so, in 2021, you’ll see proposals, arguments and debates flying around about what kind of hate crime laws we need in place.

Right across the UK

Late last year, the Law Commission for England and Wales consulted on hate crime proposals. The Commission is making a range of proposals, including dropping key sections of the Public Order Act 1986 which protected you from prosecution for views expressed in your own home. In 2020, we’ve seen similar proposals in Scotland through the Scottish Government’s highly controversial hate crime and public order Bill. Although the Bill’s been amended, the number of MSPs who spoke out suggests it’ll be a contentious debate. There’s also hate crime proposals in Northern Ireland.

It’s clear this will be one of the great social challenges we will see played out this year. Free speech and freedom of expression will come under increasing pressure. Ultimately, hate crime laws are a legal attempt to solve what is really a spiritual problem. And that’s why they end up stifling free speech. It’s simply impossible to define hate crimes in a legally watertight way that doesn’t result in undermining free thought.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Cambridge University recently rejected some freedom-suppressing proposals. Humanly speaking, the trajectory seems set. But if there’s one thing the Bible reminds us again and again, it’s always darkest before the dawn.