EAST Lancashire MP Gordon Prentice rebelled against the Government for the second time over plans to outlaw incitement to religious hatred.

The Pendle back-bencher joined a minor revolt by worried MPs at the clause being included in the Government's anti-terror bill currently locked in a dispute between the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Mr Prentice originally voted against the provision last month and remains unconvinced that it is appropriate to include it in the current emergency legislation.

He said: "I agree there may be a case for legislation against religious discrimination. We do currently have a blasphemy law that protects the Christian faith.

"But I think it needs consideration and carefully drawing rather than chucking it in to an anti-terror bill where it does not belong.

"There is no proper definition of religion and you could end up with all sorts of sects claiming protection -- even voodooism.

"And we come right back to the problem of whether it would have made Salman Rushdie's book 'The Satanic Verses' illegal because it offended Muslims."