SOME years ago, I was starting the drive home from a conference at Mirfield when I got held up for half an hour in Dewsbury. The streets and pavements were packed with crowds hurrying to Friday prayers. It was impressive, and made me wonder whether British churchgoing had ever been so committed. Muslims today constitute the largest minority faith, and their concerns and values are increasingly going to affect our national psyche, our habits, and our future. The Muslim faith provides the core to their identity in a way that, in the long term, will count for more than any Asian or African family roots.

The Church has a good record of welcoming Muslim migrants: it engages with families through church schools, and it does its best to encourage good community relations.

But, as the Established Church, the Church of England should also consider the changes that Islam is bringing to our national landscape. What does it mean for British society as a whole when millions of our fellow citizens order their social relations according to Muslim beliefs and customs? Cousin marriage, for example, is not illegal in the UK, but it has traditionally been discouraged, while being relatively common among Muslims. This, along with their minority status, could incline Muslims to be more clannish, more bound by blood-ties than by the institutional loyalties that have developed in Western Christian culture.

Muslims see themselves as part of the umma, the community of the faithful, whereas most British Christians see their faith as an expression of individual choice. In 2008, Archbishop Rowan Williams gave a talk in which he suggested that aspects of sharia law could be integrated into the British legal system, which caused widespread controversy. In practice, sharia councils do make rulings, mainly about family matters and divorce. These are accepted as binding, as long as they do not clash with the UK law.

In urban areas, the Muslim vote is highly significant, and Muslims are actively courted by political parties, especially on the Left. For well-educated, well-integrated Muslims, Britain is a place of opportunity. But many deplore what they judge to be a lack of moral conviction in British society, and are determined to protect Islam from attack, which, critics fear, could lead to a new form of blasphemy law.

There is much for Christians to consider about faith and fidelity from our Muslim neighbours. But we should also be clear about where our values differ.

My experience in Dewsbury brought it home to me that Muslims are part of Britain’s future, and that we all, whatever our faith background, need to get used to the idea. The Church of England surely has a mediating part to play here: helping society to adjust to the presence of Muslims while looking for an encounter with Islam which might prove a source of blessing rather than suspicion and fear.