Public Order Act 1986 covers stirring up hatred on the grounds of race, religion, or sexual orientation. For example: making speeches or publishing material encouraging hatred against a group. In the initial Act only stirring up racial hatred was an offence. However, it was aggravated crime but was amended by the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 to include new offences of stirring up religious hatred (against a group of persons defined by reference to religious belief or lack of religious belief).

The Act addresses hate crime through several sections:

• Sections 17-29: deals specifically with offences related to stirring up racial hatred.
• Section 18: makes it an offence to use threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour, or to display any written material, if this is intended to or likely to stir up racial hatred.
• Section 19-23: covers distribution, publication, or possession of material intended to stir up racial hatred.
• Section 29A-29N (added later): was expanded to include religious hatred and later hatred on grounds of sexual orientation. This means using threatening words or behaviour with intent to stir up hatred against people based on religion or sexual orientation is a criminal offence.

The offence is committed if a person uses threatening words or behaviour, or displays any written material, which is threatening and intended thereby to stir up religious hatred. Threatening is the operative word, not abusive or insulting. Possession, publication, or distribution of inflammatory material is also an offence. The offence can be committed in a public or private place, but not within a dwelling, unless the offending words and behaviour were heard outside the dwelling, and were intended to be heard. The defendant must intend to stir up religious hatred; recklessness is not enough.

There is a freedom of expression defence contained in Section 29J, which confirms that nothing in the Act "... prohibits or restricts discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult, or abuse of particular religions, or the beliefs or practices of its adherents." However, the rights of the individual to freedom of expression must be balanced against the duty of the state to act proportionately in the interests of public safety, to prevent disorder and crime, and to protect the rights of others from harm.

No, stirring up racial hatred does not always have to be threatening; for the offense under the Public Order Act 1986, the words or behaviour can just be "abusive or insulting". For the offense to be committed, the conduct must be either intended to stir up racial hatred or be likely to stir up racial hatred.

Yes, in England and Wales, for an act to be an offence of stirring up religious hatred, the words or behaviour or materials used must be threatening, and the person must have the intent to stir up religious hatred. The law specifies that mere insult or abuse is not enough; the conduct must be threatening in nature and have the purpose of inciting hatred against a group defined by their religious beliefs or lack of belief. Therefore for someone to be convicted for stirring up religious hatred against someone, a higher threshold must be met compared with stirring up racial hatred - a disparity in the law that needs to be addressed.