The Government's plan was simply to add 'or religious' after 'racial' in the existing law, which would then have penalised use of 'threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour'. Critics of the Bill (before the removal of the words 'abusive or insulting ' and the addition of a requirement for the "intention" of stirring up religious hatred) asserted that the Act would make major religious works such as the Bible and the Quran illegal in their current form in the UK. Comedians and satirists also feared prosecution for their work. While sympathising with those who promoted the legislation, actor and comedian Rowan Atkinson said: "I appreciate that this measure is an attempt to provide comfort and protection to them but unfortunately it is a wholly inappropriate response far more likely to promote tension between communities than tolerance." Leaders of major religions and race groups spoke out against the Bill, as did non-religious groups such as the National Secular Society, English PEN and Humanists UK (who had since 2001 been pointing to the vital differences between ethnicity and religion when the context was restricting freedom of speech).