the Government is wrong to communicate with people from ethnic minorities as though they were members of groups rather than individual citizens

reposted from NSS Newsline 27th July

Editorial by Terry Sanderson
At last – the message is getting through. Categorising communities by religion is dangerous and counterproductive
The Conservative party has commissioned a report about national security. One of the findings is that the Government is wrong to communicate with people from ethnic minorities as though they were members of groups rather than individual citizens. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6916773.stm

The NSS has been saying this for years. The Blair Government created these group categories – mostly based on religion – to define whole swathes of the population. But the huge numbers who didn't want to define themselves in this way were left without a voice.

This is particularly true of the tendency to communicate with every person from a Muslim background as though they had one opinion and could be spoken for by one organisation (the Muslim Council of Britain until recently).

Maryam Namazie and her recently-launched group, The Ex-Muslim Council of Britain, has vividly illustrated that there is no way that the label "Muslim" can be accurately attached to everyone who has come from a Muslim cultural background.

The present Government is gradually reaching the conclusion that people are people, and even though they might have been born into a strongly religious culture, it doesn't mean that they still regard themselves as part of that culture. If we want a strong, integrated society that doesn't split down the middle, we must stop religious labelling and start treating people as individuals with their own opinions and own priorities.

It is time to marginalise the theocrats who have dominated the debate so far. Religion should be made a private matter again and those who want to use it to gain political influence – be they Christian or Muslim – must be firmly slapped down.

The "faith school" concept must be dismantled, the Church of England disestablished and there should be encouragement for religion to return to the mosques and churches and temples where it belongs. All those who want religion should go to their place of worship to find it. Otherwise, the space that we share as equal citizens must become religion-free so that we can all participate safely and without sectarian conflict.

That's to everyone's benefit (except, of course, the power-seeking clerics).

See also: Moderate Muslims