White British youths are more likely to believe they are superior to those from other races, and their attitudes are more of a barrier to integration than those of Muslims, a study for the United Kingdom government has found. The findings turn on its head the current debate about integration, where a succession of Cabinet ministers have told Muslims they must do more to fit in.
The study, by the University of Lancaster in northern England, was sent to the Home Office in September, and is believed to be the first of its kind comparing levels of intolerance in different communities.
In recent weeks, a succession of British Cabinet ministers has made remarks about Muslims, including home secretary John Reid, followed by Ruth Kelly, Jack Straw and Prime Minister Tony Blair. Muslim groups reacted to the study by saying the government had attacked their communities despite their own report telling them they were not the biggest problem.
Government ministers were also rebuked last month by an employment tribunal for commenting in advance on the case of Aishah Azmi, a British Muslim classroom assistant who lost her discrimination case after refusing to remove her veil in a West Yorkshire primary school when male colleagues were present.
The Lancaster University study, commissioned by the Home Office, examined the attitudes of 435 15-year-olds on race, religion and integration. It also gives an insight into the attitudes they are getting from their parents and other influences such as religion. It found that nearly a third of pupils at a predominantly white school believed one race was superior to another, compared with a 10th from a majority Asian-Muslim school and fewer than a fifth at a mixed school.
The students surveyed were at a predominantly white school in Burnley, a predominantly Asian Muslim school in Blackburn, and a mixed school in Blackburn. The study concludes: ‘It might be reasonable … to suggest that it is the Asian-Muslim students in both the mixed and monocultural schools of Burnley and Blackburn who are in fact the most tolerant of all.” At the all-white school half felt it unimportant to respect people regardless of gender or religion, and a quarter felt there was no need to show tolerance to those with different views. Burnley was hit by riots in 2001 and the far-right British National party is strong in the town.
Blackburn is the constituency of Straw, who has said the wearing by Muslim women of a face veil damages community relations. The study found that about one in 10 of white students had any interest in learning about other religions, compared with four in 10 Muslims. Andrew Holden, of the University of Lancaster, said: ‘White children seem to benefit more from mixed schooling in encouraging positive attitudes to other ethnic groups.”
This week, the government announced that faith-based schools would have to take 25% of their intake from other religions. It was a move seen as being directed against Islamic schools.
But the study’s results show that white children who are segregated from other races have far more intolerant attitudes than schools where whites mix with others. Holden said: ‘One concern is that a lot of attitudes from the white children seemed to reflect their parental influences. We have discovered a lot of findings that challenge those assumptions that Muslims are a problem.
‘It does fly in the face of what ministers have been saying.” He said the study will last for another year.
Massoud Shadjareh, chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said it was ‘shocking” that the government had ‘ignored its own findings and then cynically helped to unleash a public anti-Muslim backlash that has included the vilification of Muslim schools and Muslim’s rights to practise their religion”. Inayat Bunglawala, spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain, which was accused by the communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, of not doing enough to ensure integration and community cohesion, said: ‘The cumulative effect of their remarks has only increased the anti-Muslim climate.”
Press reaction
Arguments about the Muslim veil in Britain are part of a wider debate taking place across Europe. Amid competing claims of religious freedom and official secularism, some argue that the debate is motivated by growing intolerance of Muslims.
In the United Kingdom, recent controversy has centred on the niqab face veil worn by teaching assistant Aishah Azmi. Earlier Jack Straw described it as ‘a barrier to social integration”. In The Netherlands a parliamentary move to impose a ban on burkas was rejected by the government last year. Burkas have been banned in some schools since 2003.
In Belgium earlier this year, two hijab-wearing teachers were sacked for failing to comply with ”religious neutrality” rules.
The French ban on ‘conspicuous” religious symbols in state schools has been a contributing factor behind debate across Europe. Critics say it discriminates against Muslims by focusing more on hijab than Christian or Jewish symbols.
Last year, Denmark’s supreme court ruled a supermarket chain had the right to fire a cashier for wearing a headscarf.
In Turkey, laws state religious clothing should not be worn outside times of worship. A particular cause of friction is that women wearing the headscarf are not allowed to register at universities. — Brian Whitaker,