Church Criticises Government as 'Preferential Treatment' is Given to Muslims

The Church of England last week has claimed that the government's attempts to reintegrate minority faith groups have backfired, leaving Britain "more separated than ever before".

The statement was made in a confidential document written by Guy Wilkinson, interfaith advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, but was leaked to the Sunday Telegraph.

It made the claim that the Church of England had been "sidelined", and it accused the government of offering "preferential treatment" to Britain's Muslim Community.

Entitled 'Cohesion and Integration - A Briefing Note for the House (of Bishops)', the report listed a number of government initiatives developed since the 7/7 London terrorist bombings, claiming that they had undermined their interfaith agenda and produced no "noticeable impact on community cohesion".

Specifically, the report argued that efforts to integrate Muslims since the attacks have had "no positive impact" on community relations.

The government's promotion that Britain is a multi-faith society was also challenged. The report told how the government's "schizophrenic" approach has in fact divided the communities further.

"Indeed one might argue that disaffection and separation is now greater than ever, with Muslim communities withdrawing further into a sense of victimhood, and other faith communities seriously concerned that the Government has given signals that appear to encourage the notion of a privileged relationship with sections of the Muslim community," reported the Sunday Telegraph.

The concern shown by the report with regard to inter-faith relations, has been defended by one leading Church of England bishop. The Church's Bishop for Urban Life and Faith, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, said it did not reflect the bishops' view. But he told BBC Radio 4's Sunday show that Christians had been "sidelined" by a bid to deal with political extremism.

Bishop Lowe said: "This was a six or seven-page document which the Church of England House of Bishops used as a briefing document for their own debate about cohesion and integration, and that briefing paper led to a good debate which reflected the experience of the Church across the land," according to the BBC.

He added, "It's not the view of the bishops. The bishops did not actually agree the document, vote on it or adopt it as policy of the Church of England.

"But what I think actually they are saying is that we are worried that the government's agenda around political extremism has led to a skewing of the whole process around community cohesion and integration to a point where maybe the other faiths including the Christian faiths has actually to some extent been sidelined in this process."

The Church said the report was not meant as an attack on the government, but rather a contribution to the debate.

It comes following a week in which Jack Straw sparked controversy by describing the Muslim women's veil as "a visible statement of separation and of difference" between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. Anger was sparked as he suggested they discard them.

Also last week, further controversy was put into the debate as a Muslim police officer was excused from taking part in guard duty at the Israeli embassy in London.