Baroness Sayeeda Warsi’s Islamophobia speech
It is refreshing to see the most powerful Muslim introduce the elephant in the room. This speech has caused waves in the media and the Muslim community. Sayeeda Warsi delivers 2011 University of Leicester Sir Sigmund Sternberg Lecture She Said: Back in September I made a speech about faith at the Bishops Conference. It was the first time that a Cabinet Minister had spoken so frankly about faith for many years. I think it’s fair to say that the speech caused a bit of a stir in some quarters.
The New Humanist Magazine ran a poll of their readers which ranked me the fifth most dangerous enemy of reason last year. I was about to think that actually, I hadn’t done too badly, when I discovered that the Koran-burning Pastor, Terry Jones, came one place below me! But overall I believe the impact of the speech was really positive. And the main thing I discovered by doing the speech was that there is a large, untapped appetite for a more mature discussion of faith in this country. I sensed that people were fed up of the patronising, superficial way faith is discussed in certain quarters, including the media…
….and that sadly there has been a rise in a sloppy kind of religious illiteracy. So it was important to take stock of where Britain is with faith. And I am delighted to be here today to build on what I said. Your University is helping to raise the whole standard of faith-based debate in this country. And I know that some fantastic people have given the Sternberg lecture before me. Professor Hans Kung has spoken about his idea of the “global ethic” and the common values of the main religions…
…Lord Carey has talked about the relationship between Islam and The West, and why the idea of a clash of civilisations can become a self-fulfilling prophecy…
…and Cardinal Cormac O’Connor has explored the current global position of Christianity. But I want to start my speech today by paying tribute to Sir Sigmund Sternberg. Although he has connections with the Labour Party, I hope he won’t mind if I say that his life seems to me to be the epitome of the Big Society. Since coming to Britain as a European Jew in the 1920s, he has spent his life helping to strengthen communities. For me, as a Rotarian, a big part of that was what he did in the 1990s…
…when he re-established Rotary Clubs in Eastern Europe after the collapse of Communism. But from the point of view of my subject today, it is his work with faith communities which is truly inspiring. From helping to resolve a row at Auschwitz over a Catholic convent…
…to organising the first ever papal visit to a synagogue…
…to establishing the Three Faiths Forum with Reverend Marcus Braybrooke and Dr Badawi….
…Sir Sigmund has shown just how much one person can do to promote a richer, more tolerant, and a more integrated society. And that brings me to the theme of my lecture today. BIGOTRY AGAINST FAITH In my last speech I made the evidential case for faith in our country. I showed that contrary to popular belief, faith in this country is certainly not fading away; I explained that faith inspires many people to do good things which help build a bigger society; And I announced that the aim of this government is to help not hinder faith communities in the good things that they do.
Today, I want to make a related argument. I want to make the case against the rising tide of anti-religious bigotry. In particular, I want to say three things: First, I want to highlight what I mean by this rising religious illiteracy and condemn the bigotry which it feeds. Second, I want to explain why I feel these problems are happening. And third, I want to set out how we can start to deal with it. In other words, in my last speech, I said that this government does God. This time, I’m saying we get God. What I mean by that is we understand faith. I am not saying that people can’t be anti-religion. What I am opposed to is the rise of unreasonable, unfounded, irrational bigotry. Where religion itself becomes a loaded word…
…where free discussion is drowned out by a sensationalist media…
…and where there simply is no room for fairminded debate. Now some will be surprised to hear me using the language of reason to defend an essentially spiritual phenomenon – namely individual faith. Others will say that it’s ok to be irrational about religion…
…because religion itself is not open to rational debate. I don’t accept that. Faith and Reason go hand in hand. This is a point the Pope has made consistently over the last few years. All through the Bible, there is a close relationship between faith and reason.” Perhaps the most telling are the opening words of the Gospel of John. “In the beginning was the Word… …and the Word was with God….
…and the Word was God”. “The Word was God” So, at the very heart of Christian faith, we find that Reason and God’s Grace go hand in hand. And as the Pope made clear when visiting a mosque in Amman last year, this isn’t unique to the Christian religion, but to all the main religions. “As believers in the one God, we know that human reason is itself God’s gift and that it soars to its highest plane when suffused with the light of God’s truth.”
“In fact, when human reason humbly allows itself to be purified by faith, it is far from weakened; rather it is strengthened to resist presumption and to reach beyond its own limitations.” The point is just as religion shouldn’t fear reason, so reason shouldn’t be denied to faith. But my worry is that is exactly what is happening right now. Controversial stories are inflated by the media…
…detracting from serious faith-based debate…
…and leaving us with a situation where instead of philosophy, we’re fed anti-faith phobias. One telling example of this occurred in 2005, when Ruth Kelly was made Education Secretary. Now of course, it’s reasonable to scrutinise that appointment and have a discussion about whether Ruth Kelly was up to the job. But what was it really right that her faith formed such a big part of that inquiry?
And was the appropriate language about her Catholicism used? At its extreme, this kind of bigotry descends into absurd caricatures. Where all Catholicism becomes “dodgy Priests in Ireland”. Judaism becomes “murky international financiers”. Sikhism suddenly seems to be all about a play in Birmingham. And Evangelical Christianity is seen as anti- Abortion activists rather than campaigners like William Wilberforce. For some faiths, these kind of characterisations have increasingly become mainstream.
Today, I want to touch on the way my own faith, Islam, is perceived. Let me say right away to British Muslims that I acknowledge that there is a minority of people that try to justify their criminal conduct and activity by suggesting that it is sanctioned by their faith. It is a problem that we must confront and defeat. But that problem should not lead to unfounded suspicions of all Muslims. Indeed, it seems to me that Islamophobia has now crossed the threshold of middle class respectability. Let me give one example which is very personal to here: It was reported several years ago that students at Leicester University persuaded their union cafeteria to ban pork and go exclusively halal. The trouble was, that turned out not to be the whole story.
In fact, as I understand, it the Student Union decided that one out of the 26 cafes on campus should serve halal food. And when you consider that there are a large number of Muslim students at Leicester, that makes sound financial sense! For far too many people, Islamophobia is seen as a legitimate – even commendable – thing. You could even say that Islamophobia has now passed the dinner-table-test. Take this from Polly Toynbee: “I am an Islamophobe, and proud of it”.
Or this speech title from Rod Liddle: “Islamophobia? Count me in”. But of course, Islamophobia should be seen as totally abhorrent – just like homophobia or Judeophobia – because any phobia is by definition the opposite of a philosophy. A phobia is an irrational fear. It takes on a life of its own and no longer needs to be justified. And all this filters through. The drip feeding of fear fuels a rising tide of prejudice. So when people get on the tube and see a bearded Muslim, they think “terrorist”… …when they hear “Halal” they think “that sounds like contaminated food”…
…and when they walk past a woman wearing a veil, they think automatically “that woman’s oppressed”. And what’s particularly worrying is that this can lead down the slippery slope to violence. This is part one of the much talked about Baroness Sayeeda Warsi’s Islamophobia speech. We will be printing part two next week.