Increased home working and fewer opportunities to socialise during the coronavirus pandemic is threatening to make society less tolerant of diversity, a report warns.

Reduced access to workplaces, leisure centres and other communal facilities is likely to make it much harder to form friendships that break down prejudices, the Woolf Institute said.

Without alternative opportunities for social mixing, its researchers believe this will lead directly to an increase in prejudice.

The research centre, based in Cambridge, is launching the results of a two-year study, which saw 11,701 adults surveyed about their attitudes towards diversity in England and Wales.

The report, How We Get Along, suggests that there is an emerging consensus that diversity is a positive thing, but that change has occurred too quickly.

More than half (53%) agree that ethnic diversity is good for society, 46% believe the same of migrants and 41% believe the same of religious diversity.

However, 60% of respondents said they feel the number of migrants in Britain has risen too quickly over the past decade, half believe ethnic diversity has increased too quickly and 43% believe the same of religious diversity.

The findings also suggests that negative beliefs about religions such as Islam continue to be widely held.

Religious prejudice, particularly towards Muslims, is the “final frontier” for diversity as people still appear willing to express negative attitudes.

The report authors are concerned that Covid-19 will make people become less tolerant, as it reduces their opportunities to make friends outside of their ethnic, religious or national groups.

Workplaces provide opportunities to create “shared goals, break down stereotypes and foster positive attitudes”, with the report finding that those without work are twice as likely to have no friends outside their own ethnicity, nationality and religion.

Dr Ed Kessler, founder director of the Woolf Institute, said: “As people are forced to work from home during Covid, there is a risk that they go back into isolated silos.

“Creating new opportunities for friendships should be a key ingredient of public policy.”

While overall trends are positive, attitudes towards religious diversity were markedly less so, suggesting religion is a “red line” for many people in England and Wales.

The polling found less than half (44%) of people would be comfortable with a close relative marrying a Muslim.

This compares to around seven in 10 respondents feeling comfortable with a loved one marrying an Asian or black person.

However, the data also suggest that a majority of Muslims had the same negative marriage attitudes towards Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Sikh people and those of no faith.

Dr Hargreaves said: “The good news is that there is a strong consensus in our findings that diversity is good for our country, whether we look at ethnicity, migration or religion. It is, however, also clear that, of these three forms of diversity, acceptance of religious diversity lags significantly behind.

“Being Muslim, in particular, appears to remain a “trigger” for prejudice, making religion a ‘final frontier’ for prejudice in England and Wales.”

Overall, women, younger people, Remain, Labour and Liberal Democrat voters appear to be more positive towards ethnic and religious diversity in Britain.

People living in more ethnically and religiously diverse communities were more likely to hold negative attitudes.

Remain, Labour and Liberal Democrat voters showed more positive attitudes towards migrants in Britain.

Attitudes towards migrants were more negative everywhere outside of London except for the south east, which the authors said may be a “regrettable bad news story from the provinces” for multicultural Londoners.

People in the North West were the least likely to have ethnically diverse friendships, and were 54% more likely than Londoners to only have friends from the same ethnic background.

Those in the North East were the least likely to have any non-British friends, and were two-and-a-half times as likely as Londoners to only be friends with British people.

Anyone reading the Sun newspaper a few days ago would have thought that the end of the world had arrived since the ‘Muslim’ Head of Religion and Ethics, Aaqil Ahmed, had simply made a comment. So, what was that comment that the ‘Muslim’ Head of Religion and Ethics had made – (apologies for stressing the ‘Muslim’ element, though you see it is precisely what the Sun article casually threw into their piece on him.)

“the corporation’s (religious) output should be measured against the “religious make-up” of Britain.”

Sounds logical. Well quite, but not according to the Sun piece that decided to snipe from the sidelines as to the professionalism and judgement of Aaqil Ahmed. Not to be outdone in the, ‘we have an opinion and we will fit what we believe are facts to the story we want to spin stakes’, the Sun decided to open its frontal attack with fears of the Adhan or the Call to Prayer being commissioned by someone who was Muslim. Not exactly what Aaqil Ahmed had said, but what better way to generate some fear than to suggest to Middle England that they will be shaken out of their slumber because of those muezzins and mullahs, all blasting out some Arabic sounding calls to prayer.

This was followed by the ‘how dare he’ framing of the Commissioner as the person,

“who previously compared Mary and Joseph to illegal migrants.”

Just in case, you missed it, the (Muslim) Commissioner who simply mentioned that programming should reflect the audience, was now insulting Mary and Joseph, as though they were those pesky, dark looking and ‘foreign’ illegal migrants.

Which then led onto the Sun’s strategy of suggesting that Aaqil had a secret bias for Islam, as thought he could not set aside his judgement at work from his faith. The salvo’s on his judgement were summed up in the following statements,

“Mr Ahmed — whose appointment in 2009 was criticised by the Archbishop of Canterbury of the time Rowan Williams,”

“While working for Channel 4, Mr Ahmed upset Roman Catholic priests by commissioning documentaries that appeared to contain a pro-Islam bias.”

“One series, called Christianity: A History, was criticised by Church figures for trivialising the religion.”

Judging by the comments made by the Sun, you would think that the mild-mannered and introspective Aaqil Ahmed was a raging Islamist with undertones to attack Christianity and secretly create the conditions for a favourable treatment of Islam. Well, doesn’t that sound like promotion of anti-Muslim tropes, we think so.

Lost to the Sun

What has been lost in the Sun piece has been the variety of programmes about other faiths that have been commissioned by Mr Ahmed during his tenure, including programmes that have challenged rigid doctrinal thinking in faiths, including Islam. Hardly the image that the Sun portrays, which in reality is of a professional man who is willing to challenge issues within faith, including his own. Nor does the Sun want to consider the challenging work that he has commissioned in order to highlight how some people are treated just because they are fleeing from wars and turmoil and who are refugees.

The issue here is whether the Sun would run such a story against any other Commissioner from another faith? All of this just because Mr Ahmed suggested that programming should reflect the variety of audiences in the UK. So, next time any Commissioner makes a suggestion that is vaguely in line with this comment, we are assuming that their past will be dredged up, suggestions of bias made and their faith brought into the equation.

The post Shock, Horror, How Dare Top Commissioning Editor Question the Status Quo appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The Connecting Communities project is based on the ideas of enhancing, focussing and activating the power of communities who are of Pakistani heritage, and who are citizens and permanent residents of the United Kingdom. We are all aware of the enormous skills, energy possessed by diaspora communities of Pakistani heritage, the passion that many have for Pakistan, and their role in creating positive change for the country. With about 1,125,000 people in England and Wales of Pakistani heritage, there is a huge pool of individuals who can be help spur social change in Pakistan. We are looking to launch the Connecting Communities project so that it promotes the following message in news media in the UK and Pakistan:

‘Reinforcing and highlighting the importance of minority rights through interfaith activities, using religious- and community-based media messages, from the UK to Pakistan, and thus combating extremism and religious violence’

Persecution in Pakistan

We are all aware of the persecution and oppression directed against religious minority communities in Pakistan, whether they are Christians, Ahmaddiyas or Shias. Now is the time to ensure that British Asians of Pakistani heritage can play an influencing role for the new administration.

Particularly concerning to us is the way that some in Pakistan are targeting Christians for particular scrutiny and hatred. They are increasingly viewed not as Pakistanis, but primarily through the lens of their faith, which, together with the view promoted by some that Christianity is somehow alien to Pakistan, puts them in a very precarious position. With the new administration in Pakistan currently taking on the mantle of power, Pakistan is therefore in an uncertain and fragile position, with a few other civil society groups in the country already lobbying for the protection of minority rights.

Furthermore, through the project that Faith Matters is carrying out in Pakistan, (Musawaat), it is clear that a programme which uses UK media enthusiasm to inform Pakistani media, and which can enhance the grass roots action of Musawaat, is needed to ensure the maximum impact of the project. From our fieldwork in Pakistan over the last three years, one potential resource that has been noticeably untapped has been the ability of diaspora communities in the UK to promote positive messages and ideas of change, that can correspondingly promote minority rights in their home country. The Connecting Communities project seeks to fill this void. A fresh new approach is needed and it is this gap that the Connecting Communities proposes to fill.

On Sunday, the 6^th of January, 2013, Faith Matters organized its third interfaith training workshop as part of their Project Musawaat (Equality) which aims to promote freedom of religion and belief in Pakistan and is focussed on working with Christian and Muslim communities in the Punjab region.

75 participants from 18 grass-roots level youth based organizations in Pakistan participated in this event. Concepts of conflict resolution, interfaith dialogue, citizenship and identity were discussed in the session and participants were asked to explore practical ways that they could enhance and strengthen community engagement in order to promote interfaith harmony in Pakistan.

The following youth organizations and educational institutions participated in the session.

1. Society for Human Advancement and Just Reforms (SHAJR)

2. Ashiana Development Organization

3. Oasis Society of Fine Arts (OSFA)

4. Minhaj-ul-Quran

5. Catholic Youth Ministry Lahore (CYML)

6. Youth Advocacy Network (YAN)

7. Excellence College of Education, Gujranwala

8. Sangat Development Foundation

9. Islamia college of girls, Gujranwala

10. Chishtia High School, Gujranwala

11. Chaoon

12. Sath

13. Active Advocacy Network (AAN)

14. Chanan foundation

15. Al-Fajar

16. Lok Vehar, Faisalabad

17. Speak Up

Bunyad Foundation

Faith Matters is working in areas in Pakistan where Christian communities are densely populated and where tensions have been observed in the past. Such areas include Faisalabad , Gujranwala and Multan in Pakistan.

The Our Faiths and Our Shared Futures Booklet is an extension of the work that was initially conducted in the Midlands (Derby) and which was also carried out in the London Boroughs of Haringey, Enfield and Barnet. The ‘Our Faiths and Our Shared Futures’ booklet involved discussions on scriptural texts by religious leaders in the boroughs and with young people inputting into the content and the design of the booklet. All of the work involved local people and local organisations and fits under both the Big Society and Preventing Extremism agendas.

Discussions on (i) respect for diversity (ii) the protection of life and (iii) countering extremism have been included within the local contexts of the three London Boroughs. We hope that this booklet makes a useful addition to the learning materials for your work around communities learning to live side by side and working for the common good in areas.

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