Minority Report: Is it too dangerous to wear your religion on your sleeve?
There's a very sad story about a clergyman who was badly beaten up last week outside his church in East London in a what police are treating as a suspected faith hate crime.
Canon Michael Ainsworth, 57, was put in hospital by three youths who attacked him outside the St George in the East Church (left), Tower Hamlets, after he allegedly told them to keep the noise down.
What makes this attack particularly unpleasant is that the attackers are thought to have assaulted Canon Ainsworth simply because he was a clergyman. Police said two of the attackers were Asian and that they allegedly made remarks "insulting his occupation".
The attack is yet another depressing example of how dangerous it can be for religious leaders and lay folk to wear their faith on their sleeves.
Christian clergy, Jewish rabbis and Muslims imams have all complained in recent years that attacks on them have been on the increase (not that you would think that if you read Melanie Phillips' blog on the latest attack - apparently it's just Jews and Christians that get attacked).
A report last October by national Churchwatch said half of all clergymen and women they interviewed in London had been attacked in the past 12 months and even advised priests to take off their dog collars in public.
The latest figures from the Community Security Trust, which monitors antisemitic attacks in the UK, says there were 547 incidents in 2007, the second highest annual total since they began recording figures in 1984. Of those 547 incidents, 114 were classified as violent antisemitic assaults, the highest annual figure yet.
In August an imam from London's Central Mosque in Regent's Park was left fighting for his life after an attack while Sikh and Hindu groups have also reported an upsurge in hate crimes, usually from assailants mistaking them for Muslims.
Sadly those most vulnerable to faith hate crimes are those who wear their religion on their sleeves. The rise in these sorts of attacks on all faith communities paints a pretty depressing picture of British tolerance.
Surely this is not an issue of regligous intolerance and more an issue of anti social behaviour using religion as an excuse to behave like a thug. It seems to me the reasons for random violence are less about the actual reason and more about the violent act being an end unto itself.
Posted by: bigyinn | Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 11:17 AM
Bigyinn- yea, im sure the muslims would have that attitude if it was one of their own getting beat up...
Posted by: Adz | Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 11:35 AM
I agree with the first comment by Bigyinn. Religion is not the problem here, anti-social-behaviour is. In Glasgow normal community people are afraid to come out of their houses and tell the youth to be quite because the are afraid of threats,abuse to their lifes.
Posted by: Kash | Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 01:10 PM
I am a member of the Jesus Army. Talk about wearing your religion on your sleeve, we wear our Jesus Army jackets on the streets. We also have our colourful Jesus Army minibuses, cars and even double decker buses. Fortunatley we don't get too much trouble as we tend to stick together and a group is always safer than an individual. Generally we find that people are more at ease to talk to us if we are clearly identified, so the jackets are actually quite helpful. My sympathy to those who have been attacked. God bless them.
Posted by: John Thomason | Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 01:20 PM
I am an athiest living in Manchester but many of my close friends happen to be Muslim, and from my experience and from what they tell me, I can definately say it is quite unsafe in certain areas for non-muslims. I myself have actually been physically assaulted by Muslim males for talking with a Muslim female friend.
During Ede, it is well known that whites / jews / sikhs etc should avoid Rusholme and other majority Muslim areas as the abuse can be terrible. Physical attacks on non-muslim males are very regular, and any girl walking past who isn't Muslim is subject to a torrent of extreme abuse from Muslim males in their cars.
I went last year with a group of Muslim friends to join in the celebrations but was horrified by some of the things I saw. I witnessed numeorus girls being severely verbally abused by different groups of males, but the most shocking scene of all was a car being kicked and attempted to be rocked over by around 10 muslim males. The police interveined and luckily the man (on his own in the car, looked as if he could be Jewish, around 50 years old) was able to drive away.
However, the men who attacked his car were simply left to get back to their celebrations and none were arrested or cautioned. My friend asked one of the police officers and he told me that they have to tread very carefully otherwise they can be accused of being racist and too much intervention can cause a backlash. He told us that there had been numerous other attacks, in the area on the night by Asian youths from outside Manchester, who had come along to crash the party and stir things up.
My two freinds who were with me were even more horrified than me by what they saw and heard. Their friends later informed us of similar incidents where they were celebrating in Oldham and Cheetham Hill.
I also used to occasionally go along with them to 'Asian Nights' at local bars and night clubs, normally a mix of R&B and Bangra etc. However, in the end I stopped going as at the second event I was talking to one of my best friends (An asian female) who I had happened to go out with that night. I'd say that around half the guys in there were eyeballing me, and my friend's even warned me to stop talking to her. Later in the evening I was assaulted by a group of Asian males who had been at the event as I waited in the queue for a taxi and ended up being punched and kicked several times before managing to get away.
I'm sure this kind of thing happens both ways, but as quite a nuetral i.e. Athiest white person with as many if not more Muslim friends than any other religion, I do see more of this coming from Muslims than targeted at. The strange thing is, most of my Muslim friends say that they very rarely get any kind of racist abuse at all, particularly in the last decade or so.
Posted by: D | Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 04:25 PM
I am an Indian Christian who is quite sick of all the nonsensical PC stuff going around in this country and turning it into some free for all undefined society. I just cannot comprehend how an English person calling this his country and saying we should integrate with the culture of this country, as it was (thanks to all pc's and politician's eye on votes, it is reaching a quick death) can be labelled as xenophobic. If we, which ever generation British we are, do not like what we see here, should just go to that country and society that we think is best suited to our beliefs and culture instead of abusing the citizens of this country. It drives me madder to be lumped with antisocial Muslims in the words "Asian", as I find that by and large its the Ethnic Muslim Pakistani community who seem to thrive in racial/religous violence.
Posted by: asha | Wednesday, 19 March 2008 at 02:21 PM
To the Athiest pleas stop using Muslim as point of referance. As in islam bhangra clubs and alcohol is forbiden, no one attacked you or anyone else in the name of Islam or for the sake of Islam but for their own pathetic personal and anti social behavioural. Stop joining the ranks of ignorance open your eyes and use your brain.
For Asha please provide facts not hearsay when pointing fingers at Ethnic Muslim Pakistani Community as I am part of this and have absolutley no desire to be labeled as violent and thriving in such an environment, maybe unfortunatley you have been subjected to bad experiences. It would just be nice to see a view that is logical and factual rather than distoreted by media, governement and personal issues.
Posted by: Hafeez | Wednesday, 19 March 2008 at 11:09 PM