The Veil Debate Unmasked

As a Christian who has lived in multi-faith communities all my adult life I get more alarmed each week about the prejudice and ignorance of the mainstream white, British "christian" society in which I live and where I don't really belong.

The current debate about veils is percieved as (and actually may be) a coded attack on Islam and Muslims, a clear case of Islamaphobia and percieved as another battle in the "war on terrorism" or "clash of civilisations". It is not really a question of individual rights but of social identities linked to faith commitments.

It will not be surprisising if the debate polarises matters further that more Muslim women will decide to wear the veil and assert their identity and rights and more Brits and "Christians" will criticise them or worse. I didn't see the Question Time programme last night that came from Preston but understand it highlighted some local people's feelings on the issue.

The co-ordinated statements by government ministers are also giving racists and Islamaphobes implicit permission to attack, or speak hurtfully to Muslim women. We read of an incident in Liverpool where a woman's veil was torn from her face, and in Preston a woman going to her local post office was told to remove her veil before being served. Christians should remember the events in Germany that led to KristalNacht and Auschwitz and the faithful response of some Christians like Bonhoffer.

Surely we should be doing all in our power to work for social cohesion which is an important component of the Biblical concept of Shalom. But that is not helped by demanding that others be conformed to the worldly culture of the present age, when we all need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

The idea that hiding your face betrays a desire to flee from engagement with others is clearly culture bound and part of modernist secular thinking rather than a priciple derived from Christian values. The most I would concede is that Muslim women need to be aware that some non-muslims are "freaked out" by talking to a face they can't see. There are consequences of their choice then but we must leave them free to make it..

Muslims tend to be blamed for being segregated from the rest of society. But let's be fair about this. Historically most of them have not had much choice about this, through the economics of the housing market compounded by discrimination by estate agents and sellers. In fact the Census statistics show that while most Muslims live and interact (and are usually happily integrated) in diverse multi-cultural multifaith areas, while there are millions of white "christians" who live in neighbourhoods where only a tiny handful of their neighbours are from other backgrounds. Usually they live there by choice, as the areas are greener, nicer, more affluent and "better" for bringing up their kids. Who then is responsible for increasing segregation?

It is time that Christians stopped tolerating sterotyping, misinformation and hostility to minorities for surely this is a transgression against the 9th commandment "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."

And it can only be special pleading on behalf of "us" against them to major on the persecution of Christians (for their faith or more often ethnic/communal identity), or to suggest that wearing a cross is an insignificant ornament while wearing a veil is a cause for concern.