by Gillian Dymond, Right Times (Image: Pixabay)
A religion that claims authority over law and politics should meet a higher test before it receives public privilege
‘Islam is my faith,’ says Shabana Mahmood, our home secretary, in a video clip from British Muslim TV which circulated widely on the internet a year or so ago. ‘Like a lot of practising Muslims, my faith is the most important thing in my life. It is the absolute driver of everything that I do.’
Fair enough, you might say. Committed followers of other religions no doubt feel an equally strong spiritual calling, and there is no reason why this should jeopardise their loyalty to this country. Judaism, for instance, a non-proselytising religion to the point of actively discouraging all but the most deeply convinced converts, has lived peacefully alongside Christianity in Britain since the 17th century without challenging our laws and constitution, and while contributing significantly to the nation. True, there was a time when Catholicism, with its allegiance to the Pope and its association with hostile foreign power, could not safely be admitted to Parliament, but any threat from that direction is long gone: indeed, this previously suspect religion is now beginning to fill the spiritual void left by the laughing stock which was once the Church of England.
But Islam? This is a religion born as an adjunct to conflict. Whereas early Christians, long before their faith had acquired political status, were prepared to die for their personal and spiritual commitment to Jesus Christ, the first followers of Mohammed rampaged through the civilised world, killing and enslaving whole populations of Christians, Jews and Persians as they imposed their power.
Even discounting the fact that religious conflict in Britain has hitherto been within the bounds of Christianity, there is something about Islam which sets it apart from the equally alien faiths of the Hindus and Sikhs: not simply its claim to be the final, incontrovertible word of God, but its apparent inability to draw a line between God and Caesar in public life.