Criticism of Islam is ruled a legally protected belief - after man was banned and fined thousands of pounds over social media posts

The view that Islam is problematic and should be criticised is a protected belief under equalities law, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Patrick Lee is pursuing a belief discrimination claim against the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) after it banned him and fined him nearly £23,000 last year over a series of tweets criticising Islam.

Mr Lee's posts, made in 2020, condemned doctrines he said justified violence, inequality for women and homosexuals and hatred towards religious groups.

He labelled Islam as 'morally bankrupt', a 'dangerous cult' and a '1300 year old con trick', while the Prophet Mohammed was referred to as a 'monster', the IFoA's disciplinary body said.

It said out of 83 tweets, 42 were offensive or inflammatory and 29 specifically demeaned Muslims.

At a preliminary hearing held by video link at the London Central Employment Tribunal in July of this year, Employment Judge David Khan ruled that Mr Lee had established that he genuinely held the pleaded belief, which meets the definition of a 'protected belief' under section 10(2) of the Equality Act 2010.

The judge wrote: 'I do not find that these tweets and the pleaded belief are mutually exclusive. Nor incompatible.

'I find that the claimant's evidence in relation to these tweets, that he was inveighing against the offending doctrines and practices because they continued to be treated as authentic and officially sanctioned by Islamic leaders, was not inconsistent with the pleaded belief.'

Mr Lee, an atheist, holds the belief that Islam 'particularly in a traditional form - rather than a reformed, modernised, moderate and Westernised form - is problematic and deserving of criticism', the tribunal heard.

He argued that his intention is to raise legitimate questions and generate debate, saying that the IFoA's treatment of his beliefs is 'problematic' for western democracies.

A final hearing in February will be held to decide whether his posts were an expression of his protected belief.

The Free Speech Union said: 'This is a landmark victory, not least because it renders the Government's efforts to roll out an official definition of 'Islamophobia' largely pointless.

'If describing Islam as "backward", "a con trick", "a dangerous cult", "the root of the evil" and calling the Prophet Mohammed a "monster" are all expressions of an "Islamic-critical" belief that's protected by the Equality Act, trying to ban people from saying these things in the workplace won't be possible.

'The judge in this case has grasped the important distinction between disrespecting a belief and disrespecting a person who holds that belief. 

'Too often, robust criticism of Islam is treated as a form of harassment against Muslims and conflating the two has had a chilling effect on free speech.'