Religious segregation can be beneficial – but not for Muslims, new research shows
London is far more segregated on religious grounds than by race, new research from the University of East London has revealed. A map which has been drawn up to illustrate the research shows that in some areas, minority religions make up 80% of the population.
Only 3% of London’s seven million residents live in areas classed as racially segregated, but 25% live in religiously-segregated neighbourhoods.
The researchers then come up with some very interesting conclusions – one of which is that communities segregated by religion are not necessarily disadvantaged, nor are they separated from the majority community.
But that does not apply to Muslims who, when they shut themselves into religious enclaves, become trapped in a spiral of financial and social deprivation, and become more remote from the majority.
Professor Allan Brimicombe, author of the study based on census data, said: "Traditionally the amount of residential segregation in London has been looked at in terms of ethnicity. Any government plan that talks about 'parallel lives' and a lack of integration being a bad thing is missing the point – it's not bad for everybody.
"By ethnicity there is not very much residential segregation. But when you turn it around and look at religious self-identity we see there is a lot of segregation in London by minority religious groups.”
The city’s religious breakdown was then compared with information indicating deprivation, such as educational qualifications and housing types. “We found that a level of segregation actually seems to improve the lot of people living in areas that are segregated along religious self-identity lines,” said the author. “The Jews, Hindus and Sikhs seem to be better off in areas that are dominated by their own religion, except for the Muslim-dominated areas which get progressively worse off as they become more segregated.”
Concentrated communities of Muslims are found in the boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham; Jews in Harrow, Barnet and north Hackney; and Hindus in Brent.
Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society, said: “These findings raise the vital question of the desirability of state funding for Muslim schools. These schools can do nothing but increase the isolation of already cut-off communities. Rather than argue that because other religions have religious schools, Muslims must have them, the process of dismantling the whole system of sectarian schools must be started urgently.”
See also: Sectarian schools in Britain
