Source: The Church of England Newspaper
On December 3, 2004 The Church of England Newspaper reported, "The Bishop of Manchester gave the backing of the bench of bishops to the Government’s controversial proposals to outlaw ‘incitement to religious hatred’. Bishop Nigel McCulloch said that while religious communities like Judaism and Sikhism were already protected against incitement to hatred, the law needed to be levelled to give protection to other religions, and especially Islam. 'Equality before the law is important, and all those who experience harassment and threats because of their religion, or lack of it, are entitled to protection.' He said that the proposals should allow rational discussion and criticism of religion, 'even in sharp terms' and should also permit the activity of proselytising."