Islamophobia: Incitement to religious hatred – legislating for a new fear?

Abstract

The Serious Crime and Organised Crime and Police Bill was originally brought to Parliament by the then Home Secretary David Blunkett on 24 November 2004 ( http://www.parliament.the‐stationery‐office.co.uk/ ) ‘Islamophobia’, and other similar terms such as xenophobia, the fear of strangers, are often favoured over the term ‘racism’ in European discourse. The first known use was by an American journalist in 1991 (Runnymede Trust 1997). I use fundamentalism here, in line with Eisenstadt (1995) to refer to the attitude of religious groups which reject ongoing complex traditions, including scholarly and juridical hermeneutical ones, in favour of ‘return’ to an idealized era or scriptures, often with the added agenda of imposing their vision through political or violent means.