25.11.2004

Promote this secularism

Anas Altikriti of the Muslim Association of Britain was a Respect candidate for Yorkshire and Humberside in the June 10 EU elections. He spoke to Peter Manson

If we agree that religious customs, such as the wearing of the headscarf, should neither be suppressed nor imposed, aren’t we getting to the point of secularism - the equality between believers and non-believers?

That’s an interesting way of putting it. I’m not sure if that would capture the essence, although I think that that is something we would want secularism to have. If indeed that was what secularism was - to live and let live - we would be in a better place than we are today, particularly if we look at France.
What I fear, however, is that in countries like France secularism has become the new religion. People, one way or another, are being forced to adhere to that religion. We mustn’t be too obsessed about a faith being merely an adherence to the word of god. The word of man could be as oppressive if we were to use it in an abusive manner.

In my opinion the French ban is antithetical to secularism, which must be based on not only the separation of church and state, but the freedom of religious practice, including freedom of religious expression.

I think I agree with that point. At the press conference that I chaired at City Hall a few months ago, the point was made that the French state had abused secularism. It had used it in a manner to pursue certain ideals that are anti-secularist. That is a point we are trying to pursue and I think is a correct one.

Shouldn’t we then agree on a genuinely secular approach - within Respect, for instance?

Today the debate on what secularism is, what it stands for, is something we ought to have, simply because it has been muddled in the eyes of many. People who look at it from different perspectives either celebrate it or feel extremely threatened by it. So it’s vital that we realise what it is.

What we do acknowledge is that we live in a secular society and this is what I want secularism to reflect. That ought to mean that people can believe, can reflect whatever ideology, faith, belief or principle that they carry - freely and without the persecution or oppression of any other.

If that is what secularism is, then I feel it is something we all ought to carry forward and promote