Books, bibles and newspapers would be seized and destroyed under the SNP’s plan to criminalise “inflammatory” publications, religious and secular organisations have warned.

The offence of possessing inflammatory material could extend to the Bible and other religious texts, according to the Bishops Conference of Scotland, the Free Church of Scotland and the Evangelical Alliance, which represents 4,000 evangelical churches in the UK.

The Free Church, a presbyterian denomination, said its critics “should be free to mock us, ridicule us and insult us”, adding that outspoken ministers would “need to have their lawyer on speed dial to check that their sermon each week does not fall foul of the offence of stirring up hatred”.

It said in its submission: “The right for a warrant to be issued to enter a premise and remove inflammatory material and ultimately destroy it is deeply worrying to us as it could lead to certain books and publications essentially being banned.

“As books are confiscated and destroyed, precedents would develop that would amount to a list of banned books . . . and as Christians we are deeply concerned that the Bible could fall foul of this offence.” The Bishops Conference, which represents Catholic bishops, said that priests could face prosecution for saying that “a man cannot become a woman”.