There are some disturbing developments in Britain that need to be looked at before they spin out of control. If it's not already too late!While multiculturalism has worked to a certain degree here in Canada it has not fared as well in Great Britain.
Islamic extremists have created "no-go" areas across England where it is too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter, one of the Church of England's most senior bishops warns today.
The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church's only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race or faith face physical attack if they live or work in communities dominated by a strict Muslim ideology.
Bishop Nazir-Ali, who was born in Pakistan, gives warning that attempts are being made to give Britain an increasingly Islamic character by introducing the call to prayer and wider use of sharia law, a legal system based on the Koran.
In an attack on the Government's response to immigration and the influx of "people of other faiths to these shores", he blames its "novel philosophy of multiculturalism" for allowing society to become deeply divided, and accuses ministers of lacking a "moral and spiritual vision".
Echoing Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, who has said that the country is "sleepwalking into segregation", the Bishop argues that multiculturalism has led to deep divisions.
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, has accused Muslims of promoting a kind of "voluntary apartheid" by shutting themselves in closed societies and demanding immunity from criticism.
As we have seen here in North America, (Canada) multiculturalism can be a two edged sword. Yes, it can promote ethnic pride and mutual support, but at the same time it can also foster divisions between an ethnic group and the general population which invariably leads to ostracism and economic penalties that can keep a whole generation or two at the bottom of the socio/economic ladder.
It's a fine line that has to be walked, and the stronger the religious of cultural compulsion for segregation, the longer poverty and inequality will linger.
Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com
Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com
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