A social cohesion plan designed to bring about a “patriotic renewal” in England has been met with optimism about how churches can help to bring communities together, but concern for how a new definition of anti-Muslim hostility could inhibit free speech. 

Steps to promote integration, address religious hatred and clamp down on extremism in society were announced by Communities Secretary Steve Reed on Monday.

“Restoring pride in place”, “teaching our values and history” and “celebrating faith and belief communities” have been set out as ways to improve togetherness, in the government’s Protecting What Matters plan. 

‘Neighbour looks after neighbour’

Discussion about integration and what it means to be British have reached a point where the government needed to respond, according to Daniel Singleton. As national executive director of FaithAction, he leads programmes connecting faith groups and government to better local communities. 

He told Premier Christian News that Christian values have been the “bedrock of what we are as a nation”, although it has been influenced by the internet and not expressed as much as it has been in the past. 

The government described hopes for people to “come together with a shared sense of values, pride, and belonging,” using the example of being a “place where neighbour continues to look out for neighbour.”

Singleton highlighted how the language of “neighbourliness” is rooted in a Christian background, and how churches are places where people can connect with each other: “Jesus reached out to people who are not popular, who are not the ones that were easy to be with,” he said.

FaithAction has been running its Cafe Connect, with the aim of bringing the community and new arrivals together, particularly assisting those from Hong Kong. A programme called Creative English has been developing language skills through drama and role-play based activities

“Those are great opportunities, and faith really should be at the forefront of that, because faith is first in and last out. When it comes to these things, we're really about building society and connecting people,” Singleton said. 

He added that a lot of the plan focused on investment in physical infrastructure, and was hoping for the government to back “social infrastructure”. 

Concerns of ‘backdoor blasphemy law’

A new definition of “anti-Muslim hostility” has also been introduced, replacing the previous term of "Islamophobia". It is described as criminal acts of “violence, vandalism, harassment, or intimidation [...] that are directed at Muslims because of their religion or at those who are perceived to be Muslim.”

The definition also includes “prejudicial stereotyping” and treating Muslims as a group “defined by fixed and negative characteristics.”

The Communities Secretary said the definition was needed to address a rise in hate crimes, as “you can't tackle a problem if you can't describe it.”

Tim Dieppe, head of public policy at Christian Concern, told Premier Christian News that “hostility” was too broad a term, which could be open to abuse and “two-tier policing”.

“If I say Muslims do not worship the same God as Christians, that could be deemed to be prejudicial stereotyping intended to stir up hatred, and then I would be fully foul of this definition,” he said. 

Questioning or criticising Islam could also be at odds with the definition, Dieppe added. This concern has also been shared by shadow communities minister Paul Holmes, who told the Commons that it “risks creating a backdoor blasphemy law.”

Dieppe also questioned a section of the policy which states that "respect for religion or culture” does not require tolerance for views which “undermine our fundamental values”, which includes LGBT+ rights. 

“Christians don't necessarily embrace LGBTQ values, and it seems like they're defining opposition to those kinds of things as extremist. So you have a real concern here that conservative Christians and Jews, and indeed Muslims as well, would be deemed extremist if they don't agree with same-sex marriage or they are gender critical.”

He highlighted the cases of the Darlington Nurses and Jennifer Melle, which he believed could be classed in that category. 

Reed rejected the notion of the plan being at odds with freedom of religion or speech, as well as “anti-Muslim hostility” being a form of blasphemy law.