context
Cards (6)
- some viewed immigration as a threat to traditional British values, which they linked to Christianity even if they had no real connections with any church
- Enoch Powell speech 1968: "being swamped"
- modern: Farage + Reform UK
- many saw multiculturalism as an opportunity for enrichment
- there was a desire to respect + protect all cultures
- it was seen as a way of promoting tolerance + equal opportunities in all aspects of British life
- diversity of faiths in Britain today, according to the 2021 census:
- for the first time, less than half the population identified as Christian - 46%
- nevertheless, Christian remained the most common response to the religion question
- identification with no religion was 37% - a rise of 12%
- muslim population rose to 6.5% from 5% in 2011
- some areas of Britain remain monocultural
- when people first migrated they tended to settle in groups + in places where employment was to be readily found
- the ECHR protects freedom of religion as a human right
- part of British law within the 1998 Human Rights Act
- "everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion"
- allows religious pluralism (people of different faiths living in the same society without conflict) by making illegal any attempt to ban or restrict the practice of religion
- criticisms of multiculturalism + religious pluralism
- threatens social cohesion as there is no sense of common identity (where cultures work together forging a national identity)
- immigrant cultures might flourish without being assimilated, which can lead to a sense of isolation or discrimination
- certain practices carried out by some communities are illegal under British law + cause tensions e.g. FGM + forced marriages
- multiculturalism assumes that no culture can claim to be the best, but a major reason for belonging to a particular religion is the conviction that it offers the best way of life
- impossible for someone to accept the teachings of two or more religions to be true at the same time