Kilroy-Silk Blasts Islam Again
MEP Robert Kilroy-Silk – whose TV career was an early victim of the Islamist “that-offends-my-religion” tactic – has set himself on another collision course with some Muslim groups when he claimed on the Today programme on Monday that most religious doctrine practised in the UK’s mosques was “backward, tribal and from a medieval period”. He was commenting on reports that claimed that around 60% of mosques in the UK do not admit women at all.
The East Midlands MEP called for women to be treated “equally, with dignity and respect” and said it was “totally unacceptable” that they were not allowed into all mosques. But he said that women could not rely on a change brought about by religious doctrine or they would be waiting for “centuries”.
He was debating with Halima Hussein, of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee. She said: “It is an issue for the Muslim community that women are excluded from mosques and it is a complete disgrace. We don’t want to polarise the debate. We don’t want women to be forced into mosques, we want them to be given their place because we believe it is their right within the religious text and it is their right within Islam to enter mosques. We don’t want them to be forced in because of, you know, Western kind of values being imposed on mosques. We want the Islamic rights themselves to come forward. We want it to come from religious text, we want it to come from religious doctrine that women are involved in their local mosque because a mosque is a place of religious worship.”
Mr Kilroy-Silk replied: “Well, I wouldn’t rely on that. If you rely on that then you will be waiting for centuries because most of the religious doctrine that is practised in the mosques here is backward, tribal, from a medieval period. You can’t rely on that. I don't believe in religions. I think all religions are fairy tales, I think they are evil and I don’t think Islam is one of the better ones, so I don’t want anybody to be forced to go to a mosque. What I do want is women to be treated equally, with dignity and respect. I don’t want them to be subservient to Muslim men.”