Tim Dieppe, of Christian Concern, has criticised the government’s planned inquiry into Muslim rape gangs and raised concerns that it will overlook what he calls "Islam's crucial role" in the abuse.
Dieppe, writing for The Conservative Woman, said that the inquiry’s draft terms of reference make no reference to Islam and only use the term “religion” three times. When religion is mentioned, it is in the context of the response to the abuse, rather than a potential motivating factor in the crimes.
He argued that key aspects of Islamic law and theology are fundamental to understanding the nature of the abuse, notably ideas around the superiority of Muslims over non-Muslims, and the superiority of men over women. Other key questions concern the lack of a concept of age of consent and "sex slavery as an aspect of the laws of jihad".
Dieppe, who is head of public policy at Christian Concern, said, “It seems then that the government deliberately wants to keep the role of religion in motivating grooming gang abuse out of the scope of the inquiry. To stave off criticism on this point, it has commissioned separate research into this question. But research is not the same as an inquiry.
“It will not have the powers of an inquiry. We have no details about who is carrying out this research or what resources they have or when the research is expected to be published. Indeed, the government has not promised that this research will ever be published. It may well not be published at all."
While discussions about the terms of reference of the government’s inquiry are ongoing, a separate privately-run inquiry crowdfunded by MP Rupert Lowe has already finished hearing evidence.
According to Lowe, a final report is being prepared with a view to eventually launching private prosecutions against those who covered up the abuse or were negligent.
That inquiry found evidence to support the argument that Islam was a significant motivating factor in the abuse.
One survivor told the inquiry: “Things would escalate around Eid … The main clash that I kind of had with the religion side of it was, I grew up a Christian. I would wear my cross because it was something really, really special to me … it was just used as a way to break me down, as in ‘Where is your God now? Why has your God forsaken you?”
Similar concerns have been raised by Anglican priest and scholar Dr Mark Durie who has argued in a new report that grooming-gang activity across the UK "isn’t connected to ethnicity but to Islamic theology".
"Haunting the official responses to these crimes is the twin spectre of Islamophobia and a dread that the multicultural experiment is failing. Such pressures have undoubtedly intimidated many officials from speaking out," he said in Premier Christianity Magazine.
A letter has been sent to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Baroness Longfield, chairman of the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs, urging the government to investigate whether the ethnic and religious backgrounds of the perpetrators and victims was a “causal factor” in the abuse. Signatories include shadow home secretary Chris Philp.
