BBC Radio 4 2016-03-10

BBC Radio 4 2016-03-10

On Tuesday evening I attended an event in Archbishop’s House in Westminster where three religious leaders sat down together to discuss how they live as creative minorities in the United Kingdom. Each leader, the Chief Rabbi representing Judaism, Moulana Sayed Rizvi representing Islam and Cardinal Nichols representing Christianity, brought a unique personal and community perspective to the topic. Each had quite a different history of being a minority in the UK which was not always a benign experience; the Chief Rabbi reminded us that the Jews were banished from the country in 1290 only to return with limited rights under Cromwell but with full rights in 1858; the Cardinal spoke of the suppression of Catholicism from the 16th to 19th centuries, and Moulana Rizvi reminded us of Islam’s relatively modern arrival in the UK and how his religion could learn from the experience of Judaism and Christianity. Despite different histories, all three spoke with a common grammar about how to be creative minorities in the United Kingdom today.

For the Chief Rabbi the principal issue was how to integrate, but not assimilate. How to give all to your society, but to retain your identity. Moulana Sayed spoke about the shifting attitudes between different generations, and the transition from fear and discrimination to acceptance and inclusion. The Cardinal emphasised the central place that education had played in Catholic integration.

Listening to these minority voices, which between them had experienced centuries of suppression and persecution, describe the UK today as a ‘truly, respectful and pluralist society’, spoke powerfully about contemporary Britain and what it has achieved often through painful history and lessons. The greatest accolade a society can receive is praise from its minorities about how they are treated. It was forthcoming on Tuesday night when Moulana Sayed said, ‘in a sense London has more Islamic values than many Muslim countries. I feel more Islamic here. I can practice my faith and give respect to other faiths and care for others’.

While all is not perfect and integration is a work in progress, how have we reached this point? How have we built a pluralist environment which includes rather excludes and has overcome many centuries of getting it wrong? In part it must come down to an openness which allows us all to be Jewish, Catholic, Muslim or to hold any other religious, cultural or ethnic identity, and be citizens of the UK, and to see those differences not as detracting from national identity but enhancing it.