The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Stop banning Pastor Terry Jones

Yes, he’s a bigoted, deluded Islamophobe – but can’t free speech cope with that?

By Sholto Byrnes Published 20 January 2011 10:45

So Pastor Terry Jones, the American preacher infamous for his aborted "Burn a Quran Day" prior to the last anniversary of September 11, has been banned from entering the UK after all. He now will not be able to join demonstrations against mosque-building organised by England Is Ours, an anti-immigration group which believes, according to its website, that Britain's three main political parties are all "corrupty" (sic).

Leave aside the nonsense spouted by this group and by Pastor Jones, who seems to share the concern of England Is Ours about "the expansion of Islam in the UK, and the apparent collusion shown by the British government to this expansion". (I like that dastardly word, "collusion".) It is wrong to bar him, just as it would have been wrong to have barred him in December when those other lovable rogues, the English Defence League, invited him to speak.

In the event, the EDL withdrew the invitation, so the Home Secretary was not called upon to make a decision about whether to let him in. Not before, however, many had insisted he be turned away – the Labour MP Jon Cruddas in particular.

I wrote about this at the time. (Cruddas responded in the Guardian by branding me a member of the "liberal elite". I would have thanked him for the compliment, but that clearly wasn't his intention.) You can find the original piece here, so I will just quote the following from it now:

We consider him to be distasteful, for sure, uncivilised, uncouth, the possessor of barbaric and ignorant views. But if we value free speech at all, those can never be reasons enough to ban him. Let Pastor Jones come to Britain, and if his speech breaks any law, then throw the book at him.

I stand by that. What I find sinister this time, however, is the language used by the Home Office to justify excluding him. "Numerous comments made by Pastor Jones are evidence of his unacceptable behaviour. Coming to the UK is a privilege, not a right, and we are not willing to allow entry to those whose presence is not conducive to the public good."

Such vague, paternalistic terms, "conducive to the public good" and "unacceptable behaviour", the first sounding like a useful get-out for a police state and the second reminiscent of a ticking-off from an old-fashioned housemaster: "Matron found you in bed during morning prayers two days in a row, Byrnes. Your behaviour is unacceptable. You will commence three hours' detention after you have finished your prep."

Worse still, though, is this contention that "coming to the UK is a privilege, not a right". Yes, technically that may be correct. But in this day of easy and open borders and frequent travel, is that really how we view visiting another country? Perhaps we should put those words in big signs above our immigration counters. That would make tourists and businessmen feel welcome, wouldn't it?

Put it the other way. After flying over the Atlantic, would not a trip to New York start just that little bit less joyously if one were constantly reminded that even being let into the country was "a privilege, not a right"? (True, US immigration officials are notoriously brusque and unfriendly, but they don't go that far.) We have a visa waiver programme for when we go to the States, and US tourists or visitors need only present a valid passport on arrival in the UK. We expect to be able to travel freely between our two friendly nations, and anyone of an internationalist outlook would not wish it otherwise.

But Pastor Jones is such a danger to us all, apparently, that we must ban him from entering Britain. Stop – lest his honeyed tones and fine intellect persuade us of the merits of his views, or stir our nation of placid shopkeepers into a violent, howling mob!

Or you may think, as I do, that it is a ridiculous and heavy-handed ruling over a man whose words and actions should never have been taken so seriously in the first place.

As I concluded the last time I commented on Jones's case: "What has anyone to fear from a man so confused and deluded that, before his Quran-burning stunt, he could seriously declare that its aim was 'to send a message to the moderate Muslims to stay peaceful and moderate'?"

Tags: Religion

More from Sholto Byrnes

21 comments

Thu, 2011-04-07 13:08 — wyattearp (not verified)

desacrate that "BOOK of HATE"! Burn it , shoot it , drive over it! Its all good. The QURAN is a TERRORIST MANIFESTO, read it sometime!

Sat, 2011-04-02 21:14 — j. david (not verified)

tell me one thing,if someone in some islamic country somewhere burnt the bible would pastor jones and others,storm an enclave full of totally innocent people,and indiscriminatly kill them,even worse behead them,I think not,why do we keep up this charade of placating islam,it,s a bestial,primitve,blood religeon

Sat, 2011-04-02 22:27 — Dave C (not verified)

So far, 21 people have died following Pastor Terry Jones' publicity stunt: I hope he's proud of himself.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12944851

Tue, 2011-04-12 03:37 — Captain Sensible (not verified)

Ok. the real problem will come for the powers that be when a million come out to burn the book. Fitzroy at the Darwin debate, the book, book,what about the book. I am Sparticus the Koran burner,mode may come fashionable, some BNP geezer has already done it but he put a cross for no publicity!

Thu, 2011-01-20 10:52 — swatantra nandanwar

Let the Pasta in. This fundamental christian bigot has nothing of relevance to say and will be demolished in any reasoned debate.

Thu, 2011-01-20 11:37 — crabstix (not verified)

How will we now deal with muslim visitors, of whom "Numerous comments made by - insert name of choice - are evidence of his unacceptable behaviour. Coming to the UK is a privilege, not a right, and we are not willing to allow entry to those whose presence is not conducive to the public good."

Just asking.

Thu, 2011-01-20 11:53 — Des Demona (not verified)

Truew we have a visa waiver programme when visiting the US but first you have to apply for authorisation to travel and pay $14 a pop for the privellage!

Fri, 2011-05-13 07:54 — Luddite (not verified)

Dave C
02 April 2011 at 21:27... Religious medieval fuck-wits did the deed, not Mr Jones. You are an appalling apologist, for mass-murders, typical left-winger.

Thu, 2011-01-20 11:56 — Alf (not verified)

Incitement of racial/religious hatred actually has two meanings. Firstly, it means the act of persuasion of violence. This should be illegal, if the pastor is found to be deliberately persuading people to commit violent acts, he should be imprisoned. However the second meaning is 'offence'. If the pastor simply is preaching material which is 'offensive', though I do not agree with it. In no circumstance should it be illegal.

I, of course think the pastor is abhorrent. But he should be welcome into the country to preach whatever he wants to. There is no connection between words and deeds. If he preaches something 'hateful' then people have to restrain themselves and not act violently to his message.

I just received an email from the Quilliam, a counter extremist think tank who welcomed the decision to ban him. It's a shame a think-tank that deals with these issues is so woefully uneducated about the virtues of the freedom of speech and democratic rights.

Britain is a pluralistic society, peoples beliefs and values clash with each other constantly so it's a fundamental aspect of living in this society to put up with it. What Muslims find 'offensive', I do not find offensive (thats not an agreement to what the pastor preaches). It's these double-standards and meanings to 'offence' which means that there should be no such offence or 'blasphemy' law. Noting that the Religious and Racial Hatred acts only applies to Muslims, as Islamists are the very ones who have acted violently in the past.

Ironically Quilliam are inadvertently defending the actions of violent extremists in this country. Some more thought needs to be put into this.

Fri, 2011-05-13 08:20 — Dave C (not verified)

If you start a chain of events of events that predictably ends in the death of 21 people or more, then you are culpable morally and in many circumstances legally.

I agree with you that Pastor Terry Jones is something of a "religious medieval fuck-wit".

Thu, 2011-01-20 12:30 — writeoff (not verified)

If 2000 people turned up to hear him speak 1,950 of them would be journalists with page space to fill. Another 500 journalists would be outside poking protesters with a stick to see if they can get a reaction. I agree with you in principal Sholto but the govt. has saved the nation from a tidal wave of bullshtt which would take other news off the screens. Thinking about that, they might regret the decision.

Thu, 2011-01-20 12:31 — writeoff (not verified)

Principle. Corrupty typo.

Thu, 2011-01-20 12:38 — David Vinter (not verified)

At least he is not coming here to blow us up! He has a view, he should not be censored!
Trouble is he is 'inconvenient' to politicians, and might lose them votes!

Sun, 2011-01-23 13:48 — Bob (not verified)

Once again the word 'bigot' is misused. Why do you left wing activists keep using it if you don't know what it means? The opinions of the person have to been 'unreasonable' for 'bigot' to be an appropriate word. His views on islam are perfectly resonable. It is a real and growing threat to the civilised world.

Mon, 2011-04-04 20:08 — Jordan (not verified)

Sholto,

Thank you for your reasoned and unbiased article. Like you, I do not condone the method Pastor Terry Jones chose to express his freedom of religion. But it is a freedom, one others have offended me with numerous times. If I started to riot every time someone offended me with free speech...well, there would be no more politicians left to ban anyone. Again, thanks for the cool, level-headed, unbiased approach you have to this article.

Thu, 2011-01-20 18:19 — Hans Castorp (not verified)

Sholto, "unacceptable behaviour" here means things that would qualify as crimes under incitement to religious hatred legislation.

Do some basic bloody research before launching a specious rant about a "police state" and a hopelessly stupid comparison with the US:
this basic cornerstone of journalistic practice will save you from giving the imprssion of yourself as a brainless fuckwit.

Also interesting that Sholto writes about this piffling matter rather than, say, what's been going on in Belarus. The only thing I have seen on that stolen election is a Stalinist puff-piece by that relic of tumbling dickweed Neil Clark. It seems traducing freedoms of speech there is no being deal.

Sun, 2011-05-15 11:02 — Luddite (not verified)

He may-be so, but whats your excuse Chris C. THE CHAIN OF EVENTS STARTED WITH THE MURDER OF European tourists. Or do you suffer selective memory loss.

Sept. 30 - A spokesman for the main militant movement, the Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group), warned tourists not to enter the province of Qena, which includes some of Egypt's most famous Pharaonic temples & tombs.
Oct. 1 -- Gama'a gunmen fired at a Nile cruiser carrying 140 Germans near Assiut, injuring three Egyptian crew.
Oct. 21 -- Militants ambushed a tourist bus, killing a British woman & injuring two British men. The woman was the first foreigner to die in militant-related violence in Egypt.
Nov. 12 -- Five German tourists & two Egyptians were wounded when gunmen ambushed a bus in the town of Qena.

1993

Jan. 7 - A man threw a bomb near a tourist bus in Cairo, the first attack ever in the nation's capital. No injuries were reported.
Feb. 26 - A bomb was detonated in a crowded coffee shop in central Cairo, killing a Turk, a Swede & an Egyptian & injuring 20 people of various nationalities.
March 16 - A bomb damaged five tourist buses outside the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo.
June 8 - A bomb exploded near a tour bus on Pyramids Road in Cairo, killing two Egyptians & injuring 22 people including five British tourists.
Aug 16 - A lone gunman fired shots at tourist boat in southern Egypt, but nobody is hurt in the brief random attack.
Sept 15 & 18 -- Moslem militants fired at two Nile cruise boats, the first near the village of al-Qusiya, the second on a boat carrying 22 French tourists near Abu Tig, in Upper Egypt. Both attacks missed & nobody was hurt at all. No word on whether the attackers were nabbed by police.

Oct. 27 -- A man described as a mentally disturbed musician shot dead two American businessmen & an eminent French jurist as they ate dinner at a luxury Cairo hotel. An Italian injured in the attack later died, three other people were wounded. The government said the attacker was mentally retarded & was not a Gama'a member, but some sources described him as a militant sympathiser.

Dec. 27 - A gun & bomb attack on a tourist bus in old Cairo left eight Austrians & eight Egyptians seriously wounded. Next day newspapers said Gama'a claimed responsibility, explaining that it launched the attack to avenge executions of its members.

1994

Feb. 14 -- Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Romanians in the southern province of Assiut. No one was hurt. The Gama'a claimed responsibility for the attack.
Feb. 17 -- Gunmen opened fire at a Nile cruiser in Assiut, but no one hurt. Gama'a again claimed responsibility.
Feb. 19 -- Gunmen attacked a Egyptian train in Assiut, injuring one Pole & several Taiwanese tourists. Gama'a claimed responsibility.
Feb. 23 - An explosion hits Egyptian train in Assiut. Six tourists were hurt: two Australians, two Germans & two New Zealanders. Gama'a claimed responsibility.
March 4 -- Gunmen fired at a Nile cruiser in southern Egypt, wounding a German woman tourist, who died after being flown back to Germany.
March 7 -- Gunmen attacked a train in southern Egypt, 11 Egyptians wounded. Gama'a claimed responsibility.

March 13 -- Gunmen fired at a Nile cruiser in southern Egypt, but no one was hurt.
Aug. 26 - Gunmen killed a Spanish boy in an attack on a tourist bus in southern Egypt, also wounding his father. Gama'a claimed responsibility.

Sept. 27 -- Gunmen shot dead one German tourist & wounded another in a random attack in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. Two Egyptians also were killed & another German man died of his injuries after returning to Germany. Since this time Egyptian police have set a super-tight security cordon along the single road into Hurghada & there has not been any major incidents since this date, sources indicate.

Oct. 23 -- Suspected Moslem militants killed a British tourist & wounded three others, along with their Egyptian driver, raking with machine-gun fire the minibus carrying them to a pharaonic temple in southern Egypt.
Nov

To burn a book is not the same as murdering the writer, and we all know how the Islamists love murdering writer, film makers and cartoonists.