We were delighted to host Dr Stephen Jones of Birmingham University on Friday 17 June for a discussion about Islamophobia in British society. Dr Jones is author of the report ‘The Dinner Table Prejudice: Islamophobia in Contemporary Britain.’
Dr Jones spoke to us about his recent research into Islamophobia drawing on a commissioned poll by YouGov. He discussed headline findings from the report (see below) and some of the challenges in addressing Islamophobia in the UK.
- Muslims are the UK’s second ‘least liked’ group, after Gypsy and Irish Travellers.
- More than one in four people, and nearly half of Conservative and Leave voters, hold conspiratorial views about Sharia ‘no-go areas’.
- Support for prohibiting all Muslim migration to the UK is 4-6% higher for Muslims than it is for other ethnic and religious groups.
- The British public is almost three times more likely to view Islam as inherently literalistic than other religions.
- British people are more confident in making judgements about Islam than other non-Christian religions but are much more likely to make incorrect assumptions about it.
- People who attend religious gatherings and who believe in God are less likely to view Muslims negatively than people who do not do these things: 23.5% of ‘believers’ view Muslims negatively compared with 29.8% of ‘unbelievers’.
- People from middle and upper class occupational groups are more likely to hold prejudiced views of Islamic beliefs than people from working class occupational groups.
The report advances a number of recommendations based on its two principal arguments: the extent to which Islamophobia exists and is tolerated in society and the importance of tackling religious prejudice as part of the equality agenda. You can read the full report here.
CMF Trustee, Imam Qari Asim, also addressed the meeting reflecting on this work as Deputy Chair of the Cross Government Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group and his tenure as the Government-appointed advisor on an Islamophobia definition. Imam Qari spoke of the challenges facing British Muslims amid a lack of political will to take seriously the call for the adoption of a definition of Islamophobia. Imam Qari addressed the controversy of his removal from the post of advisor. You can read more about this in his letter to the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government and in the letter sent by the Bishop of Bradford, Dr Toby Howarth, on the same.