Australian Rugby Star Sues Over His Firing For Instagram Post

In April, star Australian Rugby player Israel Folau was fired for breaching the Professional Players' Code of Conduct which requires players to "to treat everyone equally, fairly and with dignity regardless of gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, cultural or religious background, age or disability". The firing follows Folau's posting on Instagram a banner reading: "Drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolators - Hell awaits you." (Background.) Now, according to BBC News, Folau has filed suit against Rugby Australia seeking $10 million in damages and reinstatement. He alleges that he is the victim of religious discrimination for expressing his Christian religious views.  It is expected that the case will set important precedent for the balance between religious freedom and the interest in banning hate speech in Australia.

Canadian Tribunal Finds Anti-Transgender Election Pamphlet Amounts To Illegal Discrimination

In Canada, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal last week held that a Christian activist violated the province's Human Rights Code when he circulated a pamphlet attacking a candidate for the province's Legislative Assembly because of her transgender status.  In Oger v. Whatcott, (BCHRT, March 27, 2019), the Tribunal held that William Whatcott's conduct amounted to unlawful hate speech and discrimination against transgender advocate Morgane Ogerunder.  At issue was the application of Section 7 of the Human Rights Code which prohibits publications that, among other things, indicate an intent to discriminate or which likely expose a person to hatred or contempt on the basis of their gender identity or expression. As described by the Tribunal:

Mr. Whatcott created a flyer entitled “Transgenderism vs. Truth in Vancouver‐False Creek” [Flyer]. In it, he called Ms. Oger a “biological male who has renamed himself… after he embraced a transvestite lifestyle”. He expressed a concern “about the promotion and growth of homosexuality and transvestitism in British Columbia and how it is obscuring the immutable truth about our God given gender”. He described being transgender as an “impossibility”, which exposes people to harm and constitutes a sin. Mr. Whatcott ended the Flyer with a call to action: do not vote for Ms. Oger or the NDP.

In its 105-page opinion, the Tribunal rejected Whatcott's freedom of expression and religion defenses, balancing the Charter of Rights and Freedoms against the objectives of human rights legislation. Toronto Star reports on the opinion.

Guidance On Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Published By European Commission

The European Commission has published a Guidance Note dated November 2018 (full text) to assist member states of the European Union in enforcing national laws banning hate crimes and hate speech. The Note is designed to facilitate application of a 2008 Council of Europe Decision on Combating Racism and Xenophobia. The Note was compiled by an EU High Level Group created in 2016. [Thanks to Law & Religion UK for the lead.]

WAPO Runs Study of Southern Poverty Law Center

The Washington Post Magazine last week published a lengthy investigative article on the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Titled The State of Hate, frames the issue it explores as follows:

The SPLC was founded in 1971 to take on legal cases related to racial injustice, poverty and the death penalty. Then, in the early 1980s, it launched Klanwatch, a project to monitor Klan groups, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists. Their hate seemed self-evident. But eventually the SPLC began tracking — and labeling — a wider swath of extremism. And that’s when things became more complicated.

Today the SPLC’s list of 953 “Active Hate Groups” is an elaborate taxonomy of ill will.....

For decades, the hate list was a golden seal of disapproval, considered nonpartisan enough to be heeded by government agencies, police departments, corporations and journalists. But in recent years, as the list has swept up an increasing number of conservative activists — mostly in the anti-LGBT, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim categories — those conservatives have been fighting back.....

Ironically, the assault on the SPLC comes at a time when, by other measures, it has reached a new peak of public regard. Last year the group raised a whopping $132 million through its famously relentless direct-mail appeals and other giving.

Get Religion has more on the WAPO article.

South African Court Finds Online Postings To Be Hate Speech

In South African Human Rights Commission v. Khumalo, (S. Africa Equality Ct, Oct. 7, 2018), a South African Equality Court held that anti-White statements made on through Facebook and Twitter by Velaphi Khumalo, a youth sports officer, qualify as Hate Speech under Sec. 10 of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000.  One of Khumalo's posts read in part: "I want to cleans this country of all white people. we must act as Hitler did to the Jews." The court summarized its holding:

[S]ection 10 must be understood as an instrument to advance social cohesion. The "othering" of whites or any other racial identity, is inconsistent with our Constitutional values. These utterances, in as much as they, with dramatic allusions to the holocaust, set out a rationale to repudiate whites as unworthy and that they ought deservedly to be hounded out, marginalised, repudiated, and subjected to violence in the eyes of a reasonable reader, could indeed, be construed to incite the causation of harm in the form of reactions by Blacks to endorse those attitudes, reactions by Whites to demoralisation and rachet up the invective by responding in like manner, and thus by such developments, on a large enough scale, derail the transformation of South African Society.

The court enjoined Khumalo from repeating his speech and ordered him to apologize to all South Africans, ordered him to pay costs, and referred the case to the public prosecutor for possible further action. Another action in a different court had already ordered the payment of damages. News24 reports on the decision.

Indonesia Sentences Student To 4 Years In Jail For Anti-Muslim Facebook Post

AFP reports that on Tuesday a court on the Indonesian island of Sumatra sentenced a 21-year old Christian university student to 4 years in jail and a fine of $70,000 (US) for a Facebook post that compared the Prophet Muhammad to a pig and said that Muhammad approved bestiality.  The student, Martinus Gulo, had been charged under Art. 28 of Indonesia's Electronic Information and Transactions law (with unrelated 2016 amendments) that outlaws spreading hatred or dissension against individuals or groups based on their race, religion or ethnicity.

British Court Sentences Former Army Officer Over Anti-Semitic Speech

From England, The Independent reported yesterday that right-wing activist  Jeremy Bedford-Turner was sentenced by the Southwark Crown Court to one year in jail after a jury convicted him of stirring up racial hatred in violation of the Public Order Act1986.  The charges stem from a 15-minute long virulently anti-Semitic speech that Bedford-Turner gave in July 2015 in central London.  The speech, opposing the Shomrim Jewish civilian patrol group, called for Britains to "free England from Jewish control."  Bedford-Turner, who previously served 12 years in the British army, was given a standing ovation by 35 of his supporters in the court room after he was sentenced. Britain's Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA) has criticized the Crown Prosecution Service for its initial decision not to prosecute Bedford-Turner, a decision reversed only after CAA challenged the decision in court.

4 Nations Sign Statement On Combating Online Hate Speech

On Tuesday, the Justice Ministers of Greece, Malta, Italy and Israel at the 6th Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism, held in Jerusalem, signed a Joint Statement on Countering Online Hate Speech and Incitement to Violence and Terrorism (full text [scroll down in article]). Among other things, the statement urged Internet companies to adopt a clear and transparent industry standard for identifying hate speech.  It went on to encourage Internet companies to take action against hate speech publications and to remove them from their online platforms.

Congress Sends Joint Resolution Condemning Hate Groups To President

Yesterday Congress gave final passage to Senate Joint Resolution 49 (full text) "condemning the violence and domestic terrorist attack that took place during events between August 11 and August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia."  The Joint Resolution, that now goes to President Trump for his signature, reads in part:

Congress ... urges— ... the President and his administration to—

(i) speak out against hate groups that espouse racism, extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and White supremacy; and (ii) use all resources available to the President and the President’s Cabinet to address the growing prevalence of those hate groups in the United States; and 

[urges] the Attorney General to work with (i) the Secretary of Homeland Security to investigate thoroughly all acts of violence, intimidation, and domestic terrorism by White supremacists, White nationalists, neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and associated groups in order to determine if any criminal laws have been violated and to prevent those groups from fomenting and facilitating additional violence....

Politico reporting on the action by Congress adds:

Though resolutions are often passed to offer the sense of the House or Senate on various issues, they rarely head to the president for consideration. But backers of this measure structured it as a "joint resolution," a move ensuring that passage would require Trump to weigh in on an issue that has dogged his presidency for weeks.

Christian Group Sues Southern Poverty Law Center Over "Hate Group" Label

The Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based D. James Kennedy Ministries on Tuesday filed suit in an Alabama federal district court against the Southern Poverty Law Center for damages suffered when SPLC placed the Christian group on its Anti-LGBT Hate Group list. According to Al.com:

The lawsuit alleges that the SPLC "illegally trafficked in false and misleading descriptions of the services offered by DJKM and committed defamation against DJKM arising from the publication and distribution of false information that libels the ministry's reputation and subjects the ministry to disgrace, ridicule, odium, and contempt in the estimation of the public," according to a statement by the ministry....

Other defendants in the lawsuit include Amazon and Guidestar. The ministry alleges that it was excluded from the Amazon Smile program, which allows customers to donate to the charity of their choice when making a purchase.

2016 Census of Hate Groups Released

The Southern Poverty Law Center yesterday released its annual census of hate groups and other extremist organizations. The census, which lists 917 groups for 2016, is in the form of an interactive map showing the location of each group. The 2015 census showed 892 hate groups.  Anti-Muslim hate groups rose to 101, up from 34 a year earlier.

Northern Ireland Court Acquits Pastor Charged With Internet Broadcast of Anti-Muslim Sermon

In Belfast, Northern Ireland yesterday, a Magistrate's Court acquitted 78-year old Pastor James McConnell who had been indicted on two charges under Britain's Communications Act 2003 for anti-Muslim comments he made in a May 2014 sermon that was streamed online. The Belfast Telegraph reports that McConnell was charged with improper use of a public electronic communications network and causing a grossly offensive message to be sent by means of a public electronic communications network.  At issue were the pastor's statements that Islam is a "doctrine spawned in hell," that it is heathen and satanic, and that he does not trust Muslims. The court ruled that while the statements are offensive, they did not reach the level of being "grossly offensive."  The court also concluded that the pastor had not intentionally caused offense. According to the court:

He is a man with strong, passionate and sincerely held beliefs. In my view Pastor McConnell's mindset was that he was preaching to the converted in the form of his own congregation and like-minded people who were listening to his service rather than preaching to the worldwide internet.

His passion and enthusiasm for his subject caused him to, so to speak, 'lose the run of himself'."

He added that "the right to freedom of expression includes the right to say things or express opinions that offend, shock or disturb..."

UPDATE: Here is the full text of the opinion in DPP v. McConnell.  Law & Religion UK has additional discussion of the decision.

Le Pen Acquitted On Hate Speech Charges

France 24 reports that Marie Le Pen, leader of France's far right National Front Party had hate speech charges against her dropped yesterday.  Le Pen was charged with "inciting discrimination, violence or hatred toward a group of people based on their religious beliefs" for the comments, which she made at a campaign rally in 2010.  The local prosecutor though asked for charges to be dropped because her comments "did not target all of the Muslim community."  At issue were Le Pen's remarks calling street prayers by Muslims in three French cities an "occupation of territory." The presiding judge said that Le Pen's comments, while shocking, were protected as freedom of expression-- a position supported by the French State Prosecutor. (See prior posting.)

Nigerian State Will Monitor Churches and Mosques To Fight Hate Preaching

Vanguard reports today that in Nigeria, the Lagos state governor's office says it will take action to combat religious intolerance:

State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Dr. Abdulhakeem Abdullateef, explained that the government would stop any religion leader who preaches hate messages that is capable of endangering people’s freedom.  According to him, "Henceforth, we’ll start to monitor mosques and churches and ensure that clerics do not engage in hate preaching."...

Let it be known to residents that henceforth, Lagos government in collaboration with Nigeria Inter- Religious Council (NIREC), will not tolerate hate preachers. These are the people who do not preach their religion but continue to spread mischief about people of other religions. We will not tolerate religious intolerance.

In France, Marie Le Pen's Trial For Inciting Hatred Towards Muslims Begins

In Lyon, France, yesterday, the trial of Marine Le Pen, leader of the far right National Front Party began.  As reported by The Guardian and The Local, Le Pen is charged with "incitement to discrimination, violence or hatred towards a group of people on the basis of their religion" in a suit brought by four human rights groups. During the campaign in 2010 to take over leadership of the National Front Party from her father, Le Pen complained about Muslims praying in the streets in three French cities where there are shortages of mosques.  She said:

I’m sorry, but for those who really like to talk about the second world war, if we’re talking about occupation, we can also talk about this while we’re at it, because this is an occupation of territory. It’s an occupation of swaths of territory, of areas in which religious laws apply … for sure, there are no tanks, no soldiers, but it’s an occupation all the same and it weighs on people.

In court, the French State Prosecutor recommended that the judges find Le Pen's remarks protected by her freedom of expression.