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Archbishop of Canterbury warns of “national culture of fear”

Archbishop of Canterbury warns of “national culture of fear”

Categories: Latest News

Wednesday July 16 2014

The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and the Herald Scotland report on the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday in which he warned against a “national culture of fear” developing over the threat posed by radicalised Muslims on account of the disproportionate amount of attention given to the “extraordinarily small” number of those who have been radicalised. Noting the variety of topics discussed with the Archbishop, the Daily Telegraph described his comments on Islamic extremism as Welby’s “most controversial” remarks.

Welby stated that “clearly there is an issue with people going to Syria and coming back highly radicalised. There is a problem with radicalisation. But the proportion of Muslims who are radicalised is extraordinarily small and I’m just edgy about developing a national culture of fear because I don’t think that gets us anywhere and I think we’re in danger of slipping into a very fearful culture in which we see everyone against us and us against everyone and we’re constantly trying to defend ourselves. This country’s much bigger than that, much bigger than that.”

Welby further expressed in the interview that “we’ve been becoming too hysterical about this subject for some considerable period and it is a worry because we have huge differences with Islam as Christians, but that is absolutely no reason for hostility. Quite the reverse.”

Such hysteria is evident in the government’s approach to addressing radicalisation. Earlier this year, a Freedom of Information request revealed that the number of under 18s who were identified as being ‘at risk’ of radicalisation and referred to the government’s Channel programme had soared by more than 25% in the past year.

Indeed, a recent EU study “Preventing and Countering Youth Radicalisation in the EU” observes that there is an assumption that there is an “almost mechanical link between an engagement in Syria and the likelihood of future terrorist actions in Europe” despite research illustrating that “the continuities in the commitment after direct involvement in violent conflicts are the exception rather than the norm”.

Furthermore, the study concludes that “there is far too much sensationalism” on the situation in Syria that has little foundation upon “reliable assessments of the risks arising from the ‘returnees’”.

The Home Affairs Select Committee also noted in its 2012 inquiry “The Roots of Violent Radicalisation” that “violent radicalisation is declining within the Muslim community.”

This is not the first time the Archbishop has spoken out against open hostility towards British Muslims. In the immediate days following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby and a spate of anti-Muslim attacks, the Archbishop condemned the reprisal attacks as ‘inexcusable’ and ‘unacceptable’. He said, “I want, as I have already done, to acknowledge the pressure that our Muslim friends and colleagues have faced over the last few weeks. There have been terrible attacks, I know that the vast majority of those in this country and especially people of faith would join me in condemning utterly any act of violence against anyone because of their faith. 

“We want you to know that we stand with you, we will do so privately and publicly. We will do so persistently and, I pray in the grace of God, persuasively.”

You can read a transcript of the interview on the Andrew Marr show here.

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