Inclusive Practices: Faith

Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education

The Leadership Foundation, a UK-based membership organisation, provides leadership development programs, events, and resources for leaders in higher education they commissioned a pair of papers from Tariq Modood and Craig Calhoun. Addressing aspects of religion in contemporary Britain, raising questions about what is considered public and what private, and the need to consider this in the public institutions of higher education.

Paper 1: ‘We don’t do God’? the changing nature of public religion

By Professor Tariq Modood

Modood’s paper examines the evolving relationship between public religion and secularism in Britain, highlighting changes giving religion a new public character. Exploring the controversies associated with these changes and argues for institutional accommodation to be extended. The paper aims to provide a contextual framework for discussing the role of religion in British higher education. Prompting questions about the ways in which universities may be failing to live up to their aspirations to be a public good, foster equality and inclusivity.

Multiculturalism

‘not just anti-discrimination, sameness of treatment and toleration of ‘difference’, but respect for difference; not equal rights despite differences but equality as the accommodation of difference in the public space, which therefore comes to be shared rather than dominated by the majority’1

Since 1960s emerged a new conception of equality, the abandonment of the pretence of ‘difference-blindness’ and allowing others, the marginalised minorities, to also be visible and explicitly accommodated in the public sphere. It was interesting to read integrating all groups and remaking national citizenship to create a sense of belonging has been met with controversy, as it requires ‘enforcing uniformity of treatment and eliminating discrimination on grounds such as religious affiliation’.

However, there is good evidence that multiculturalist policies are not being reversed 2, and that there could be said to exist a ‘multiculturalist sensibility’3: minorities need to be included without having to assimilate.

Paper 2: Religion, the public sphere and higher education

By Professor Craig Calhoun

Religion and dissent in universities

Free speech is an important value for universities, and the idea that it is threatened creates concern. It is commonly forgotten that religion figures not only in the history of suppression of dissent, but as one of the most important bases for such dissent, pushing forward free speech doctrines. Today, there is anxiety that some religious leaders preach intolerance. This is deepened when crowds or hecklers protest speakers or prevent them from being heard. At the same time, there is also worry that banning such speakers and others deemed ‘extremist’ is itself a betrayal of commitments to free speech.1

Fear of extremism is a major and distorting issue, presented as neutral , groups however  are disproportionately targeted and recognise this, such as Muslims. Government policies such as PREVENT and 2015 legislation expanded its reach and academic responsibilities under it – raise fears of public complicity in religious intolerance 4. Repression not aimed at religion, targeted at political violence and ‘extremism’, it doesn’t eliminate the difficulty. The religious and the secular are not neatly separate.

Gender and sexuality can be exacerbated by religious intolerance, associated with defence of the traditional family identities. Conversations regarding ‘non-binary’ sexual and gender identities is growing on universities campuses. Liberating for some, it is unsettling for some students. Some religions in the  pursuit of social justice can be supportive to minorities.

Religion as a public good

In universities, the creation of successfully integrative academic communities means encouraging abundant activities that cross religious boundaries. If universities accept too much tacit segregation of students into subcultures, they reduce the learning they offer and the contribution they make to the larger society.

In the contest of the public sphere, Modood stresses that religion is a public and not only a private good. Unlike French tradition of laïcité and America’s secular separation, ‘a necessary dimension of secularism’5, in Britain it contributes to public policy and is visibly Christian.

Public engagement with religion in universities in a pluralist society, could promote ‘strong public values for all citizens’6. Keeping religion out of the public sphere, mostly due to a ‘decline in the clarity with which the positive public values of the republican and socialist traditions are embraced and promoted’7 could lead to segregation. Particularly ethnic minority groups, some defined by religion.

An argument is made to suggest ‘shared public communication and open interaction are better’, but as we have seen with many religious conflicts, lack of mutual recognition (sexuality, gender) or legitimacy (free speech), how can a successful and productive dialogue be achieved to create public good?

The Reith Lectures – Subject for 2016 series: Identity ‘What makes us who we are, our country, our colour, our religion, our culture, is it none or all of these things?’

Kwame Anthony Appiah – Mistaken Identities ‘Creed’

‘Your sense of self is shaped by your family, but also my affiliations that spread out from there, nationality, gender, class, race and religion. Nowadays we talk of these affiliations as identity…moving from personal to social in recent history’

Philosopher and cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah, who writes on ethics, culture and cosmopolitanism, argues that when considering religion we overestimate the importance of scripture and underestimate the importance of practice in religion.

His parents marriage, 1953, made headlines, the first public interracial society wedding, an inspiration for the film Guess who’s coming to dinner 9 and his own made social history after marrying his longterm partner, days after same sex marriage was legalised in New York 10. Born in UK, living back and forth in Ghana, boarding school then Cambridge, teaching at Yale, Harvard and now Professor at New York university, he’s crossed many boundaries, qualified to opine on the nature of identity.

Discussing the idea that religious faith is based around unchanging and unchangeable holy scriptures, but practice has been quite as important as religious writings. Religious texts are contradictory and have been interpreted in different ways at different times, for example on the position of women and men in Islam. Arguing that fundamentalists are a particularly extreme example of this mistaken scriptural determinism. The evolution of practice maintains the existence of the religion, for example it was unthinkable to have female ministers or rabbis at the start of the last century. Countries with religious identities can be more progressive, for example Rwanda and the more secular America with female political representation. To survive texts must be reinterpreted, be modest about ‘truth’, ‘history of faith is the history of doubt’.

‘Everybody in the world agrees, that most people in the world have incorrect religious beliefs’

Kwame Anthony Appiah

How do we unite through contrasting knowing certain ‘truths’? Arguing against a fundamentalist approach to scripture and focusing on changing practice. Perhaps.

On a side, UAL’s Grayson Perry asked ‘Religious identities, wonder if atheists and secular people have a hole, I wonder what  kind of things fill that hole where they do not have religious beliefs?

‘Belief doesn’t have to be central in religion, you could take up the community side or doings….. I’m skeptical of the hole’. Couldn’t agree more.

Religion, faith, spirituality & belief is an embedded part of human psychology that gives insight into individuals thought processes and often experiences. According to a blog post by Dr Greg on patheos.com, the terms are commonly used interchangeably but can differ in meaning depending on the context or even the conversation taking place. However, what isn’t interchangeable are individuals experiences in relation to these practices whether it’s within the practices community or the perceptions from those outside of those communities looking in.

With the changes to the demographics on those believing in a faith or religion, what impact could this have. From the key questions section I was interested to explore ‘1. Does Religion, faith, spirituality increase or decrease creativity?’ and ‘9.How does atheism relate to the creative arts?’ I turned to the interview with Ayham Jabr, a Surreal Collage Artist, Video Editor, Videographer and a Graphic Designer for insight.

Ayham Jabr does not believe it neither decreases or increases creativity, that all faiths are all ‘based on fiction and fear’. I was curious on how it affects his work’”God created man in his own image”13 …the evolution theory shatters all religions claiming that God created us in human shape from the beginning’. As hes says religions are becoming more ‘fractured and outcasted’ will it become more radical as in 1500 years ago, I think as he states it depends on the geographical region.

The case study centered on a female student of Iranian origin who was muslim. Her tutor in the first week disclosed she was an atheist and that god was a ‘manmade construct’ 14. I found this irksome, a betrayal of trust and questioned what or why was this discussed in the first week? As a result, other students felt she was being oppressed due to her attire and misconstrued her work. The piece highlights the 2010 Equality Act requiring universities not to discriminate against religious groups. The document poses the pertinent question of how to create safe spaces for students in class, offering helpful guidance around the ideas of ‘open discussion, ground rules (with students involvement)’ and allowing students to asses, themselves, what are ‘safe spaces’. Food for thought.

1. Modood, T., & Calhoun, C. (2019). Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education. Harvard University Press. http://www.tariqmodood.com/uploads/1/2/3/9/12392325/6379_lfhe_stimulus_paper_-_modood_calhoun_32pp.pdf 
2. Kymlicka, W. (2012). Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.
3. Kivisto, P. (2012). We Really are all Multiculturalists Now. The Sociological Quarterly 53(1): 1–24.
4. Pew Foundation (2011). Muslim–Western Tensions Persist Common Concerns About Islamic Extremism. 21 July 2011. www.pewglobal.org/2011/07/21/muslim-western-tensions-persist [accessed 15 May 2015].
5. Taylor, C. (2007). A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
6. Modood, T. (2015). ‘We Don’t Do God’? The Changing Nature of Public Religion. London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.
7. Rosanvallon, P. (2011). Society of Equals. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
8. Appiah, K (2016) Creed: Mistaken Identities. The Reith Lectures – Identity https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b07z43ds 
9. Kramer, S. (Director). (1967). Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner [Motion Picture]. Columbia Pictures.
10. The Marriage Equality Act 2011
11. Ramamurthy, A. (Ed.). (2015). Shades of Noir Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality & Belief. Shades of Noir.
12. News.nationalgeographic.com. (2017). The World’s Newest Major Religion: No Religion. Available at: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160422- atheism-agnostic-secular-nones-rising-religion/ [Accessed 6 Sep. 2017]. 
13. The Holy Bible: King James Version. (1611). Genesis 1:27.
14. Smith, J. (2017). Shades of Noir Case Study ‘The Little Book of Big Case Studies’ – Faith. In Shades of Noir (Ed.), The Little Book of Big Case Studies (pp. 23-32). Publisher. https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/shades_of_noir_case_study_-faith