On 1 March, the House of Commons held a debate in Westminster Hall on freedom of religion or belief (FORB), introduced by Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP), Chair of the All-party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief, which – he pointed out, “speaks on behalf of those with Christian belief, those with other beliefs and those with no belief”. The purpose of the debate was to highlight FORB issues that the Government might raise at the UN Human Rights Council. Shannon wished to raise issues such as the continued state-sponsored persecution of the Baha’is in Iran and forced conversion in Pakistan; however, issues of perceived religious discrimination in the United Kingdom were also raised – and the extracts from the debate in this brief summary concentrate on those. Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con) expressed concern about the state of freedom of religion or belief in the UK. She noted that David Burrowes, the former MP for Enfield, Southgate, and Jeremy Corbyn had held a meeting with an Iranian parliamentary delegation in the last Parliament in which, when they challenged the Iranian record on human rights including the persecution of Christians, they were challenged in their turn on alleged abuses in the UK. She claimed that freedom of religion: “… is under attack in the UK today, whether unintentionally by those who lack religious literacy, more deliberately from aggressive secularists, through attacks by one faith on another, or simply by those who ridicule people of faith in the 21st […]
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