... despite comic's protests

The Government has passed its Bill to outlaw incitement to religious hatred – despite a storm of protest that it would restrict comedians from making jokes about religion.

Rowan Atkinson was one of the Bill's most vociferous critics, saying it was a "sledgehammer to crack a nut", but the move was passed anyway.

Before the Commons vote last night, he admitted that only a handful of the jokes he has told in a career full of parodies of priests would have risked prosecution.

But he warned of the dangers of self-censorship among writers and comics and  feared that any promises to preserve artistic freedom would only last until "some political imperative suddenly makes it rather desirable for the Government to prosecute a few writers or journalists or playwrights in their desire to ingratiate themselves with a particular religious community".

Previously, he has argued that the right to offend is much more important than the right not to be offended

Tory and Liberal Democrat united to vote against the second reading of the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill in the Commons last night, but it was not enough, with the vote going 303 votes to 247 to the Government

Home Secretary Charles Clarke insisted artistic freedom to poke fun religion will not be curbed, saying: "This Bill is about the nasty and extreme behaviour which drives people to hate others - and sometimes as the recent desecration of Jewish cemeteries shows - to turn that hatred against people and property.

"What this Bill isn't about is stopping anybody telling jokes about religion, stopping anybody ridiculing religions or engaging in robust debate about religion.

Published: 22 Jun 2005