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Don’t snub other views, says Theos

28 June 2013

3FF

SNUBBING groups that fail the "progressive test", whereby they are required to show that they are "sufficiently progressive in order to merit a place at the table", is an "inherently illiberal and counter-productive" approach to community-building, a new report from the religious think tank Theos argues.

The report, Making Multiculturalism Work, by David Barclay, who is the Faith in Public Life officer at the Contextual Theology Centre in east London, warns that such an approach is "killing off the potential for friendship across difference, and encouraging retrenchment rather than transformation".

Mr Barclay suggests that the qualification for working with a group on a community project should be its willingness to work with people from different backgrounds and perspectives: a "relational test". Such "political friendships" should also involve allowing participants to be open about their motivations, including faith.

Launched last week, the report is based on the premise that state multiculturalism has failed, and that relationships in communities grow from "everyday side-by-side activity" rather than face-to-face discussion aimed at securing adherence to "abstract national values".

The report is the result of interviews with 20 individuals involved in community work. It diagnoses "the withering of the public square", pointing to the decline in membership of political parties, trade unions, and faith groups, and suggests that people need to be equipped in order to engage in common action in their communities.

It suggests that not discussing "wedge issues" - areas where participants disagree strongly - can make such issues even more divisive in the future. Furthermore, while heavily critical of "snubs", Mr Barclay acknowledges that there will be times when it is "perfectly right" for an individual or institution to discriminate on whom they work with, and under what circumstances.

www.theosthinktank.co.uk

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