I never thought I would welcome an article published by the National Secular Society, but the article by Chris Sloggett published earlier this week is an exception! He comments on the suspension of Trevor Phillips from the Labour Party because of his views on Islam, which some people have labelled ‘Islamophobic’. Sloggett rightly argues that this is all part of the growing movement in Britain to shut down freedom of speech.

This attempt to curb free speech is of vital significance to Christians in the exercise of their freedom to speak publicly about their faith. Sharing the gospel with others is an essential element in a Christian’s raison d’être. The Great Commission has been built into our identity ever since the final words that Jesus spoke to his disciples telling them to go out into all the world and preach the gospel. They were to be his ‘witnesses’ – and that command has not been rescinded for his followers today.

Acceptable Truth

Clearly the Labour Party is in a mess, but picking upon Trevor Phillips – former Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission - and accusing him of racist views is surely the height of stupidity. I’ve known Trevor for many years and we have often battled together on the same issues in race relations. We have both encountered plenty of opposition over the years since the days of the Windrush Generation and the political battles surrounding Enoch Powell.

But the battle today has moved on: now it appears that we can no longer express different views and debate issues, question ‘received wisdom’ or look at things from different angles. Current political correctness says that there should be no debate! The only permissible views are those defined by the ultra-liberal intelligentsia who consider themselves to be the elite definers of acceptable truth. Hence people with controversial views have been banned from university meetings by militant students who think they have a monopoly on truth.

The Labour Party has been so shaken by the trouncing it received at the recent General Election, where so many of their core supporters deserted them for a Boris Government, that they have fallen into the trap of thinking that they have to redefine their Party – not by revisiting their roots in the Christian faith as embraced by Keir Hardie, their renowned founder, but by running after the latest fad in pop philosophy which defines as unacceptable any views that don’t agree with the ‘politically correct’.

We can no longer express different views, question ‘received wisdom’ or look at things from different angles. Current political correctness says that there should be no debate!

Legitimate Concerns

Most of the charges against Trevor Phillips are about his concern regarding the difficulties facing Muslims in their integration into British society. He is concerned that what is being created in Britain is “a nation within the nation”¹ due to the contrast between Islamic values and the British value system, which is largely based upon its Judeo-Christian heritage. He said that this was “probably…the hardest task we have ever faced”.² As an example of how this impinges upon British national culture, he noticed at a conference of Muslim scholars that few of them wore poppies.

The major issue for which Phillips has been criticised is his views on the grooming gangs of Pakistani men who have been convicted of the sexual abuse of thousands of girls in British cities. Clearly, this is the result of the different values that these men have in their attitudes towards girls outside their own community, whom they regard as trash - or at least as an easy touch in comparison with Pakistani girls.

It is at least arguable that the social values Pakistani men bring with them are derived (in part or in full) from their religious convictions and that this makes it of national importance to allow a comparative examination of the values derived from Islam and those based upon the Bible. As Chris Sloggett argues, “walling off discussion about it has not helped blameless British Muslims; quite the opposite”. He also argues that “Free speech must include imperfect speech. Suspending Phillips denies this; it sends a message that his ideas should be driven beyond the realm of public debate.”

As readers of Prophecy Today UK will know, we have long argued for an open debate about the teaching of Islam as laid out in the Qur’an and we have pleaded for Muslim scholars to state clearly that the Qur’anic instructions to kill Jews and Christians, said to have come from Mohammed, have no relevance for today and do not justify the acts of Muslim terrorists claiming to be acting in the name of Allah.

We have many times quoted the Qur’an in Prophecy Today UK and in other articles published by Issachar Ministries calling for open discussion of the teaching and practice of Islam, compared with that of the disciples of Jesus in the New Testament. There is nothing racist in such a request which comes within the legitimate academic framework of ‘Comparative Religion’. Moreover, Islam is not a race; it is a religion and should be open for study and comment.

It is a matter of national importance to allow a comparative examination of the values derived from Islam and those based upon the Bible.

Window of Freedom

To shut down freedom of speech on a genuine academic subject is surely the height of foolishness; but that is what is being demanded by the politically correct brigade. Perhaps the turmoil within the Labour Party and the reaction of the National Secular Society may mark a turning point in our culture that allows us to preserve our traditional British values of respecting those with whom we profoundly disagree, but defending their right to speak openly of their views.

It is worth noting that this debate is not new: some years ago a reader lodged a complaint against me to the Charity Commission, saying that my writing was Islamophobic. After months of expensive legal argument, I asked for a definition of Islamophobia. The case immediately collapsed as the Commission admitted that they were unable to offer such a definition!

Maybe the day will come again when we can freely declare our confidence in the gospel, quoting the words of Jesus, “I am the way and the truth and the life. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well” (John 14:6-7).

I challenge the politically correct - is that Islamophobic?

It is surely time to take the fight to the politically correct while we still have a window of freedom - or the day will come when truth is finally silenced in Britain and the Bible and our Judeo-Christian heritage will be expunged even from the history books. Oh, for a few like our mediaeval martyrs burnt at the stake, or like John Bunyan, Charles Wesley, George Whitfield, William Wilberforce and the Clapham Saints who refused to be silenced. Come on Christians! Put your heads above the parapet!

References

1 Quoted in Dean, J. Survey reveals chasm between Muslim values and rest of UK. The Times, 11 April 2016.

2 Phillips, T. What do British Muslims really think? The Times, 10 April 2016.