Faith groups also said they perceived ‘tokenism’ in the way the GCC involved them in decision making: “Their sense was that it is usually done at a late stage, when decisions appear already to have been taken.”
The researchers also reported a “perception among Christian focus group members and interviewees that the Council was trying to sideline Christian groups in order to focus more on minority ethnic groups, and that this was a racial, rather than religious, agenda”.
The Christian leaders expressed their happiness at minority religious groups becoming better integrated in the city but pointed out that at times this has lead to a “significant distortion” of the representation of differences, with religious groups with less than 300 adherents in the city getting the same number of places on some boards as the Christian community, which has thousands of members across the city.Faith groups also voiced the widespread perception that being a faith group will prevent them from being granted funding by the City Council.
“This was further amplified by some Christian and Muslim participants who on a number of occasions perceived from the reactions of Council staff that they feared religious groups will try to ‘impose their faith’.
The result is that the participants feel bound to keep quiet about that which is the central motivation for their life and social action. Moreover, they report that they have to enter into ‘spurious partnerships’ (Christian Minister) with other organisations in order to access grants,” read the report.
The report also found the religious tolerance in the city had not improved, with the Forum of Faiths, the Scottish Interfaith Council and GCC all rating the situation as at best ‘average’ and at worst ‘poor’, with participants recognising significant Islamophobia and anti-Jewishness in the city, as well as continuing sectarian problems between Protestant and Catholic Christians.
Dr Michael Rosie, co-author of the report and a lecturer in sociology at Edinburgh University, said: “The novelty of this research is that the last census finally accepted citizens were grown-up enough to answer a question on religion.
“What it has done is show that Glasgow is a multi-faith city in which a very large number are no longer cramped into categories of Protestant, Catholic or non-Christian, in which they have been boxed for so long. It is far more nuanced than that.”
The report can be read in full online, please click here.
