A judge has said that priests and imams could be committing the offence dating from the nineteenth century of “spiritual influence” if they instruct congregations to vote for certain candidates.
The offence was last alleged in a British court against Irish Catholic clergy who were accused of ordering parishioners to vote for candidates sympathetic to Home Rule.
Richard Mawrey QC said: “If you say to members of that religion: ‘You are only a good Catholic, Muslim, Methodist, whatever it is, if you vote for this candidate and anyone who doesn’t is beyond the pale,’ that can, in the appropriate circumstances, even today in 2015, amount to spiritual influence.”
He spoke in the election fraud case against the Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, who denies telling Muslims it was their religious duty to vote for him. The hearing continues.
Increased religious literacy can prevent extremism, the chairman of the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education said last week. At the group’s conference, Ed Pawson cited author Karen Armstrong, who has said that good religious education can stop Islamic extremists.
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