UK: To beat extremism we must dissolve religious groups?

July 27, 2008
Third of Muslim students back killings:

ALMOST a third of British Muslim students believe killing in the name of Islam can be justified, according to a poll.

The study also found that two in five Muslims at university support the incorporation of Islamic sharia codes into British law.

The YouGov poll for the Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) will raise concerns about the extent of campus radicalism. “Significant numbers appear to hold beliefs which contravene democratic values,” said Han-nah Stuart, one of the report’s authors. “These results are deeply embarrassing for those who have said there is no extremism in British universities.” ...

July 27, 2008, Minette Marrin:

... the incidence of conservative and separatist Muslim beliefs has been growing and is more prevalent in young Muslims than in their parents’ generation. British Muslims used to be much more moderate ...

Yet how can young Muslims fit into a liberal western democracy if they believe things that are intolerant, illegal and, in plain English, unBritish? ...

Insecure young people can be swayed by extremists. The question is how to stand up to the extremists ...

First, I think, we should abandon all discussions of what Islam truly is. No one will ever agree how many infidels can dance on a pin’s head ...

Religion is as long as a piece of string; true faith lies in the heart of the believer and is rarely susceptible to argument ...

What follows inescapably from this is that religious people and their views should not be officially recognised in groups. Religion should not be allowed a public space or public representation. This is hard for those of us who used to love the muddled Anglican compromise; it means the disestablishment of our national church – if it doesn’t self-destruct first ...

There must be no more religious schools – personally I would leave those that exist alone. There must be no public recognition of religious associations as representatives of anything or anybody: not on campuses, not in student unions, not in government consultations or in parliament.

So-called religious community leaders, or umbrella groups of religious bodies, must of course be free to associate as they like in private, in a free country, but publicly they must be ignored. Publicly they must not teach or promote illegal prejudices. Forced into the private sphere, denied the oxygen of publicity, power and influence, highly politicised religious groups will wither on the vine. Perhaps, in that wonderful phrase of Yeats, they might even wither into truth.

Minette has said some good things in the past, but I can't get my head around this one. It seems both self-destructive and impotent against Islam. We have experts that are telling us what Islam is, and always has been: Robert Spencer, Andrew Bostom, etc. Ignoring Islam and pretending it doesn't exist is not going to work. Demography is destiny, just ask Turkey.