Islam and Division in the UK

As students and scholars of the First Amendment know, the perceived threat of "political divisiveness along religious lines", and the idea that religious claims and arguments are particularly, even uniquely divisive, have, over the last 35 years, played a regrettably influential role in shaping constitutional doctrine.  Also, a new strand of liberal political theory contends that liberalism need not be "thin," and artificially neutral, but should instead embrace the need to employ the tools of government so as to strengthen and spread liberal values and shape citizens' thinking.

These articles (here, here, and here) suggest that the debate in the United Kingdom is proceeding along similar lines:

David Bell, head of the schools inspection service Ofsted, said he feared Islamic education gave Muslim children "little appreciation" of their obligations to British society.

In a speech to the Hansard Society in central London, Mr Bell called on the Government to monitor Muslim schools carefully to ensure children were learning about Britain.

The comments were supported by Coun Les Lawrence, Birmingham City Council's Cabinet member responsible for schools. But they were described as "unfortunate" by Mohammed Naseem, the chairman of Birmingham's Central Mosque.

Birmingham became the first education authority in the country to fund a Muslim coeducational secondary school four years ago, when the council agreed to support Al-Hijrah school, in Bordesley Green. The authority also runs Al-Furqan Primary School, in Tyseley.

Mr Bell said: "Faith should not be blind. I worry that many young people are being educated in faith-based schools, with little appreciation of their wider responsibilities and obligations to British society.

"Britain's diversity has the potential to be one of its greatest strengths. But diverse does not need to mean completely different and it certainly must not mean segregated or separate.

"Religious segregation in schools, for example, must not put our coherence at risk."

Mr Bell said his next annual report will urge Muslim schools to reform their lessons to give children "a broad general knowledge of public institutions and services in England".

These schools must help their pupils "to acquire an appreciation of and respect for other cultures in a way that promotes tolerance and harmony", he said.

The country now has about 300 independent faith schools, including more than 50 Jewish schools, about 100 Muslim schools and over 100 Evangelical Christian schools, he said.

Mr Bell said the Government must monitor these new faith schools to make sure pupils are taught about "other faiths and the wider tenets of British society".

Mr Bell went on to say that there should be no tolerance of "attitudes and values that demean the place of certain sections of our community, be they women or people living in non-traditional relationships".

Rick