Pluralism in UK (Essay Sample)

PLURALISM IN UK
Name
Institution
Pluralism is a philosophical ideology that champions for affirmation and recognition of diversity within members of the different race, religion, social classes and political ideologies. Pluralism calls for people who are living in a society to peacefully coexist without the interference of the individual practices and interests of the various segments of the society (Russell 2015).
As noted by Cory (2013) the United Kingdom is a pluralist nation. This is evident from the fact that the UK has people who have come from different societies all over the world and have been integrated into the society regardless of their religious beliefs or place of origin. Despite the fact that the UK is a liberal democracy that is governed by a set of laws whose origin lies in the Christian doctrine that has helped to define the moral culture and values of Britain, the country has been able to put in place structures that ensures that various interest of the diverse Britain population are respected with each being accorded equal human rights.
According to Banchoff (2007), there is much to be celebrated in the diversity of the people who make up the UK population today. The rapid migration and the multiculturism policy has brought richness and dynamism of the variety of the people thus bringing together a tightly knit society that both Christians and non-Christians both embrace each other and respect various traditions that the members of the different religious sects ascribe.
The UK for a long time has been a home for influential and rich Christian history; however, the country has transformed itself to become a site for increasing growing religion diversity. In the recent past, non-Christian faith groups of all kinds have substantially expanded in the Britain. To be specific, there are now significant numbers of Hindus Sikh and Muslims communities in the UK.However, the diversity has posed a myriad of challenges to the national government and various institutions that are charged with the mandate of ensuring that there exist structures that champions for more inclusive strategies to deal with the issues that arises from religion in the Britain’s public life. Besides, diversity has also posed a challenge to the new immigrants into the UK and the long-time citizens of the UK of all religious factions as they try to maintain their religious traditions and the integration into the new society (Harrison 2009).
In the UK, Muslims are the largest non-Christian minority sect a fact that has brought a debate on whether it is justifiable to call this group ‘British Islam' thus making the government develop measures that will ensure that the religious needs of the Muslims are fulfilled. The British Muslims for a long period have divided themselves into two factions. The prominent Islamic intellectuals have promoted a more liberal and modern interpretation of Islam and advocating for the greater flexibility in adapting to the British society (Heywood 2011). Although a segment of British Muslims views the UK way of life with antipathy and skepticism thus making them want to retain their traditional Muslim identity and traditions. The UK society has been able to accommodate the different factions of Islam with a faction that favors modernity coexisting peacefully with those who want to preserve their strict Islam traditions.
Religious diversity has also been witnessed in the UK through the increase in the numbers of Afro-Caribbean and the black-led Christian churches. There are over 100,000 black –led churches in the UK.The foundation and development of these churches was mainly formed due to immigration. Most of the blacks wanted to maintain their style of worship that was consistent with the worship in their countries of origin. The cold response in the white English churches also facilitated the formation of the black-led religious groups that promoted black identity and the formation of an inclusive society where every individual is accorded respect.
The constitution of the UK has played a bigger role in advocating for religious tolerance and freedom. The constitution is unmodified with both collectively written laws and unwritten conventions. Although there is no single clause that in the UK constitution that guarantees religious freedom, there are particular acts that protect the freedom of any individual who want to participate in religious activities. Also, some clauses have outlawed discrimination along religious lines like the Human Rights Act of 1998 (Khairil 2013).
Another aspect of pluralism in the UK is evident in the enactment of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act of 2006 and the Equity Act that applies to the United Kingdom. The act prohibits the stirring up of hatred against an individual along the religious grounds. The act gives provisions for every individual to be accorded equal treatment while accessing various services in the UK like the education, health and even acquisition of property.
The Equality Act has also made it easy for the blacks and other non-European individual to have an equal opportunity to access job opportunities and the participation in the national affairs. A good example is in the England national team where both the blacks and the whites have equal chances of being selected. In most cases, the stakeholders in the sports have been using merit in determining individuals who should represent the UK in various international sporting activities.
The approval of the Equality Employment Regulations of 2003 prohibited the discrimination of individuals in the UK along racial or religious lines. The UK government also developed strategies to ensure that civil servants are not discriminated against are not discriminated against by the religion, race or gender and that the UK society accommodates individuals from diverse backgrounds and that all employees of the states are committed to the Act
The Department of Communities and Local governments through the Race, Cohesion and Faith Directorate, has been charged with a mandate of ensuring that issues of hate, extremism and racism and adequately in the Whales and England through the promotion of the interfaith activities. Also, the UK state has set aside both financial and non-financial resources that are being used in reducing inequalities in the society and the building of social cohesion. The resources are mainly used in the gathering information about various minority groups in the UK and trying to develop strategies that will ensure that the individual needs of different groups in the British society are met without discriminating against any faction of the society.
A study by Heywood (2011) highlighted that the UK is a pluralist state. The study revealed that there has been an increase in the participation of the minority groups in both public and political activities in the United Kingdom. For instance, the Jews who are not native British citizens acquired rights to sit in the parliament. This pluralism nature of the UK society saw over 40 members of parliament from the Jewish community being elected to the British parliament in 1974 at the same time. Also, the Mohammad Sarwar made history when he was elected in 1997 to the parliament. History was made during this election because Sarwar was the first Member of Parliament from the Muslim community to get an elected.Baro Nazir Ahmed was also elected in 1998 thus becoming the first Muslim peer. All these elected individuals who are not native citizens of the British Society were elected by both the Whites and other minority groups living in the United Kingdom.
The establishment of the interfaith activities in the British society has been another milestone towards making the UK a pluralistic society. The state has developed many task forces and departments within the government ministries that help in eliminating religious extremism and racial prejudices. This has been necessitated by the enhancement of the better communication among members of various ethnic and religious groups. In case of tensions or dissatisfaction between any minority groups which feels that they are being targeted, the UK state has put in place structures that can be used by the affected individuals to channel their grievances without causing tension in the society thus fostering peaceful coexistence among people from diverse backgrounds (Czepek et al. 2009).
Prince Charles of the whales has initiated a push towards interfaith activities through local and international work meeting with religious leaders from various groups in the United Kingdom. The discussion between the prince and the religious leaders is always centered on the establishment of an interfaith coronation. Prince Charles’s substantial commitment towards being a defender of faith has enhanced the ecumenical relation thus reorganizing the diversity of religion within the British community. During the 2006 visit by the Price to AL-Azhar University in Cairo which is a Muslim-dominated state, the prince gave a speech that encouraged the Imams to teach their followers about values that fostered compassion and mercy among various members of the society so as to promote peace in the world. The prince challenged leaders from different faiths to preach clearly and consistently to the believers about the eternal values the divine attributes.
During the 2005 bombings in the UK by the Muslim militia groups, there was fear among the UK about the threat of the British Muslims. The UK government reacted swiftly to the fears through the establishment of a taskforce that that was meant to counter extremism thus preventing a backlash on the Islam community that might have escalated a wave of attacks. The task force necessitated the integration and communication between the Muslim community and non-Muslim communities. The task force for the prevention of the Mu...