“I am Muslim. But even as a non-Christian, I can see all too clearly the shameful way in which Britain’s national faith is being eroded”, a Muslim academic has said.
In a forthright article for a national newspaper Dr Taj Hargey warned that “virulent secularism is sweeping through society – and its target is Christianity”.
And he said that the public institutions which should be defending Britain’s “national religion” are instead marginalising it.
Fanatical
Dr Hargey, writing in the Daily Mail, warned that politically correct “busy-bodies” have a “fanatical loathing of Christianity”.
But he said that they failed to acknowledge this, hiding under the cover of ‘health and safety’ instead.
In his strongly worded comments Dr Hargey also warned that schools are sidelining Christianity in favour of smaller religions.
He said the country has “a generation of pupils who know more about the Hindu festival of Diwali than about the religious meaning of Christmas”.
Attack
Dr Hargey, who is the chairman of a Muslim group in Oxford, and an imam, also said: “It is no coincidence that as Christianity is repeatedly attacked, so the social fabric of Britain becomes increasingly frayed”.
He added: “As we lose our strong moral compass, family breakdown and violent crime are at record levels, while our once famous sense of community spirit is evaporating.”
He went on to say: “For the over-riding impression is that the state increasingly favours minority religions over Britain’s own.
Disapproval
“Equally despicable, however, is that these politically correct busy-bodies don’t even have the courage to be open about their fanatical loathing of Christianity.
“Instead, they often cravenly cite ‘health and safety’, that catch-all term so often clutched at by bureaucrats when they want to shut down something they disapprove of.”
On Easter Sunday the BBC showed a documentary cataloguing cases of Christians who have been sidelined in modern Britain.
Disciplined
The show, which can be viewed here until Sunday 11 April 2010, showed that many ordinary Muslims are happy for Christians to celebrate Christian festivals.
A number of cases backed by The Christian Institute appeared on the programme: Lillian Ladele, the registrar disciplined for her stance on civil partnerships, and Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang, the Christian hoteliers charged with a crime for criticising Islam.