THE Government is committed
to tackling "the unacceptable scourge of anti-religious hatred",
the Senior Minister of State at the Foreign Office and Minister for
Faith and Communities, Baroness Warsi, said last week.
In a speech given at a
fund-raising dinner, on Thursday of last week, for Tell MAMA
(Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks), a support service for victims of
anti-Muslim attacks, Lady Warsi, who is a practising Muslim, said
that "the negative perception of Muslims", especially in the media,
was "paving the way for anti-Muslim hatred".
She said that a "misinformed
suspicion of people who follow Islam . . . can all too quickly
create the conditions for prejudice to become accepted in our
society".
She said: "Our religious
freedoms are the envy of the globe. Let's strengthen that
reputation by proving that we once again can rise to the challenge
and stamp out this new and rising form of prejudice."
Last week, Lady Warsi
convened a meeting of ministers and ambassadors from around the
world, in London, to discuss religious intolerance and freedom of
belief (
News, 25 January).