Member

I am not convinced that a ban on demos in the vicinity of all places of worship in primary legislation is the right way to go, except perhaps while people are worshipping. I can imagine a situation in which, for example, there might be a demonstration or protest on something such as child abuse outside a Catholic church, or a protest outside a Church of England establishment about the closure of local parish churches or the paying of reparations—which, by the way, I think is mad. There are times where you can imagine a situation in which a protest outside a mosque would be perfectly legitimate if, for example, you had an Islamist hate preacher outside, or if there were young men tooling up outside and there was a counterprotest. In other words, I do not want a ban on having protests at any religious building, because although I believe very strongly in freedom of religion, I do not want any blasphemy-style laws being introduced either.