The Challenge of Islam in the UK

Head of Public Policy Tim Dieppe outlines the distinct challenges raised by Islam in the UK and how Christians can productively respond

There is no doubt that Islam poses a challenge to Christians living in the UK.

It is growing in influence and has political as well as religious ambitions. Islam is already threatening our democracy[1] and changing our culture.

Many Christians have been focused on the challenge of secularism, but we need to wake up to what I believe is the even more serious and pressing challenge of Islam.

Just how influential is Islam in the UK? What do Muslims believe? What is attractive about Islam?

And how, as Christians, should we respond to all this?

The influence of Islam

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman didn’t hold back in an op-ed in February 2024:

“The truth is that the Islamists, the extremists and the anti-Semites are in charge now. They have bullied the Labour Party, they have bullied our institutions, and now they have bullied our country into submission.”

“This is a crisis. And the fightback must start now, with urgency, if we are to preserve the liberties we cherish and the privileges this country affords us all. If we are to have any chance of saving our country from the mob.”[2]

She was commenting following security concerns in parliament which led the Speaker of the House of Commons to break with parliamentary convention amidst extraordinary scenes in parliament.[3]

In 2021, Sir David Amess MP was stabbed to death by a Muslim killer who was unashamed of his Islamic motives in court.[4] Ali Harbi Ali told the court: “If you encourage someone to an act of Jihad it is a good thing.” Harbi Ali also stated plainly: “I killed him in the cause of Muslims and for the sake of Allah.”

Back in 2010, Stephen Timms MP was stabbed by a Muslim woman with Islamic motives. He was fortunate to survive the attack. Earlier this year, Mike Freer MP announced that he would step down as an MP at the next election because of serious threats to his personal safety. He mentioned attacks by Muslims against Crusades.[5]

After the recent debates on Gaza in the House of Commons, a journalist said that an MP told him: “he had weighed up his own physical safety when deciding how to vote.”.[6] How many other MPs did this? Islam is now influencing our democracy, but not with benign intentions or means.

But is Braverman right? Are the Islamists in charge now? Let’s take a more detailed look at the influence of Islam in the UK to assess where we are and what can be done about it.

The fastest growing religion in the UK

At the last census in 2021, there were 3.9 million Muslims in the UK, or 6.5% of the population.[7] This has risen quite rapidly from only 105,000 in 1960.[8] The previous census in 2011 showed a Muslim population of 2.7m. Islam was therefore the fastest growing religion in the UK over the ten-year period from 2011-2021, showing growth of some 44%. Pew Research estimated that by 2050, 17% of the population will be Muslim, based on moderate migration.[9]

In 2015 8.1% of all school age children were already Muslim.[10] The name Muhammad, when allowing for spelling variants, has been the top boys name for babies in Britain for six years running.[11]

Surveys reveal lack of integration

The Policy Exchange report: “Unsettled Belonging: A survey of Britain’s Muslim communities”, published in 2016, claimed to be the most extensive research of British Muslims ever conducted.[12] The report found that 53% of Muslims were born outside the UK, while 93% had parents born outside the UK. This demonstrates that much of the growth is occurring through immigration.

The survey found that 96% of British Muslims believe that the attacks of 9/11 were not carried out by Al Qaeda.[13] The vast majority believe that there is some other explanation, and this is a common understanding in Muslim communities.

According to the report, 43% of Muslims supported the introduction of sharia law broadly defined. 53% preferred to send their children to a school with strong ‘Muslim values’. 44% said that schools should be able to insist on ‘a hijab or niqab’ in uniform, while 32% disagreed with this.

The ICM survey of 2015 found that 7% of Muslims support the objective to create an Islamic state.[14] Only 3% said that they support the way in which Isis is attempting to establish a caliphate. This is a small minority of British Muslims, but 3% of 4 million Muslims is around 120,000 people supporting violent means of establishing a caliphate. When it comes to free speech, the same survey found that 78% believed that no publication should have the right to publish pictures of Muhammad. This rose to 87% when talking about the right to publish pictures making fun of Muhammad. Muslims are thus very intolerant of criticism of their religion and do not support free speech in this respect.

The survey asked whether violence is justified in a number of situations. As many as 24% sympathised with violence by organised groups to protect their religion. 18% sympathised with violence against those who mock Muhammad. Sympathy with terrorist actions for political protest was much lower at 4%. 31% agreed that it is acceptable for British Muslims to keep more than one wife, even though that is illegal in this country. 35% believed that Jewish people have too much power in Britain.

More recent polling carried out on behalf of the Henry Jackson Society in 2024 found that only 24% of British Muslims believe that Hamas committed murder and rape in Israel on 7 October 2023.[15] 29% of British Muslims have a positive view of Hamas, and this time 32% supported the introduction of Sharia law in the UK. 21% supported legalising polygamy and 57% supported compulsory Halal food in all schools and hospitals. 52% thought that it should be illegal to show any image of Muhammad.

The Casey Review

The government commissioned Dame Louise Casey to review integration in society. Her report was published in December 2016.[16] She found that there is indeed a problem in terms of integration of religious minorities. In a striking statement, she said:

“None of the 800 or more people that we met, nor any of the two hundred plus written submissions to the review, said there wasn’t a problem to solve.”[17]

In many ways it was encouraging that there is widespread recognition of the problem.

Casey articulated something of a cultural clash in some of our communities:

“I also found . . . cultural and religious practices in communities that are not only holding some of our citizens back but run contrary to British values and sometimes our laws. Time and time again I found it was women and children who were the targets of these regressive practices. And too often, leaders and institutions were not doing enough to stand up against them and protect those who were vulnerable.”[18]

She made clear that many institutions are too accommodating out of fear of being labelled Islamophobic:

“Too many public institutions, national and local, state and non-state, have gone so far to accommodate diversity and freedom of expression that they have ignored or even condoned regressive, divisive and harmful cultural and religious practices, for fear of being branded racist or Islamophobic.

… At its most serious, it might mean public sector leaders ignoring harm or denying abuse.”[19]

She highlighted Islam in particular, and said:

“We found a growing sense of grievance among sections of the Muslim population, and a stronger sense of identification with the plight of the ‘Ummah’, or global Muslim community.”[20]

Sir Trevor Phillips, former head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, said in 2016 that “the integration of Muslims will probably be the hardest task we have ever faced.”[21] This is a remarkably strong statement, and all the more significant coming as it does from the man who claims to have commissioned the report that first introduced the term ‘Islamophobia’ to Britain 20 years ago.

The problem is exacerbated by concentration of Muslims in certain urban areas. The 2021 census showed that major cities such as Bradford, Luton, and Birmingham all have Muslim populations over 30%, compared with 6.5% for the overall population of the nation.[22] An organisation called Muslim Vote compiled a list of parliamentary constituencies in 2024 where the Muslim vote is at least 10%.[23] They found 14 constituencies which are over 30% Muslim, and 31 constituencies which are over 20% Muslim. The Casey Review said that “people of Muslim faith live in increasing and greater concentrations (relative to other minority ethnic and faith groups) in particular local electoral wards in certain areas in the north, the Midlands and London.”[24] This creates segregated communities where some Muslims have little interaction with people from other communities, and where children attend Muslim-majority schools.

This leads to skewed perceptions of reality. The Casey review cited a survey of pupils at a non-faith secondary school which found that pupil estimates of the Asian population of Britain ranged from 50% to 90% (the actual figure was 7%).[25] This was most likely in an area with a high concentration of Muslims in the population.

Cultural influence

At an event in 2023, a British Islamic scholar and jurist, chair of the Fatwa Committee for the Islamic Council of Europe said in a panel discussing “Muslims in the West” that the situation of Muslims living in the UK is a lot better than it was 20 years ago.[26] He said:

“Our brothers and sisters, if you go outside you think that you are in a second Afghanistan, but you are in Londonistan. So it is really amazing, overwhelming. Don’t ever, my brothers and sisters, look at yourselves as a subjugated minority. We are the leaders of humanity. We should look at ourselves as we have something to offer.”

Certainly, the influence of Islam has increased over the last few decades. Islam has a disproportionate influence on our culture, given that it represents only 6.5% of the population. Multiple mainstream supermarkets and restaurant chains sell halal meat, often without labelling it.[27] The UK carries out more halal slaughter that the rest of Europe. London hosts an Islamic shopping festival.[28] A London Eid festival claims to attract 350,000 people.[29] Is there any Christian festival that can compare? Mainstream retailers like Marks and Spencer sell Islamic clothing such as hijabs,[30] even while women risk their lives by protesting against the hijab in countries like Iran.

Muslim commentator Ed Hussain wrote a book in 2021 about his travels to major mosques across the UK. His book, Among the Mosques, is a disturbing read.[31] Hussain finds that in some places there are areas that are considered no-go for ‘whites’. Not a single white face is to be seen in such areas. He finds Islamic monocultural areas which demonstrate the abject failure of multiculturalism. Major retailers have deserted such areas, and there are no pubs at all. He also found that fundamentalist literature of the kind banned in Saudi Arabia is on sale in virtually every Islamic bookshop he found. Hussain warns:

“What will happen when Birmingham or Bradford have a Muslim majority and organised caliphists hold the balance of power? Does the city begin by banning alcohol sales, using council funds to remove statues offensive to monotheism, enforcing new school uniforms for girls that exclude short skirts, banning nightclubs and gay bars, or making Fridays a local holiday for communal prayers?

“Caliphism and clericalism are sequestering an entire community away from meaningful contact with mainstream Britain. The cordon sanitaire around many minds will become solidified unless we change course.”

As far as religious influence goes, this is most symbolically demonstrated with the fact that many church buildings have been converted to mosques. Indeed, the mosque attended by the Manchester Arena attacker was previously a Methodist church. More shockingly, the Muslim call to prayer was chanted in Gloucester Cathedral in 2017,[32] and in St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, the Qur’an was recited during a Communion service.[33]

Education

Education is a key battleground for the future generations of our nation. In education, exam boards have rescheduled exams to avoid clashing with Ramadan.[34] Islamic schools have been found to contain extremist material.[35] One teacher in a mostly Muslim school related how some of her pupils tried to convince her that Afghanistan was much nicer now with the Taliban in control. When she asked a class of 13-year-olds to raise their hands if they hated Britain, thirty hands immediately shot up with absolute certainty. She said: “Most of the lads I teach think women should have fewer rights than men. They spend citizenship lessons arguing that wives should not work.”[36]

There have been several examples of successful protests leading to increased Islamisation of schools. St Stephen’s school in Newham was named best primary school in England in 2017. In 2018 the school faced a targeted campaign after it banned girls under 8 years old from wearing the hijab in school.[37] The school asked for government support, pointing out that standard Islamic teaching does not require the hijab until puberty. The school was subsequently forced to reverse its decision after the government refused to intervene. It emerged that there are some 150 schools around the country which make it compulsory for children to wear hijabs.

In 2019, Muslims parents withdrew their children from Parkfield Community School in Birmingham protesting lessons promoting homosexuality and gender equality.[38] An estimated 600 pupils were withdrawn or 80% of the school enrolment. The school is 98% Muslim. In 2023, over 300 Muslim children were kept out of a school in Manchester for three days in protest about “age inappropriate sex education teaching.”[39] 200 parents wrote to the school to voice their complaints.

In 2023, following the Hamas attacks in Israel, the Headteacher of Barclay Primary School banned students from wearing pro-Palestinian badges.[40] Protests from parents followed, forcing the school to close two days early at the end of term because of threats to staff who feared for their safety. A letter to parents from the school warned that it may have to “revert to online learning” if the safety of children and staff could not be guaranteed. Police officers were stationed at the school for a week, and private security had to be hired by the school.

In 2021, a teacher at Batley Grammar School decided to teach a lesson about blasphemy and free speech. He illustrated the lesson by showing a cartoon of Muhammad.[41] Crowds gathered outside the school to protest, forcing the school to shut for two days in a row. The teacher was subsequently suspended and was forced to go into hiding for his own safety. He remains in hiding to this day. This is certainly the most effective lesson he ever taught. The whole school and the rest of the country learned that we do not have free speech when it comes to Islam. There is a de-facto Islamic blasphemy law in place.

The influential Michaela Community School is a secular school led by Katherine Birbalsingh, who is known as Britain’s strictest head teacher. The school came top in the country on Progress 8 scores. Some Muslim pupils campaigned to have Muslim prayers in the playground.[42] Pupils were being pressured to support the prayers. The school responded by banning prayer rituals in the playground. This resulted in a campaign and threats including a brick thrown through a teacher’s window and a bomb threat which was taken seriously by police. A pupil has brought a legal case against the school for banning prayer rituals, which the High Court rejected in April 2024.[43]

In 2023, four boys were suspended from a school in Wakefield after a copy of the Qur’an was allegedly damaged. The copy of the Quran was owned by one of the boys and was dropped on the floor after a boy knocked into the boy holding it, causing it to be slightly scuffed.[44] The boy and his family subsequently received multiple death threats and threats of violence. Astonishingly, the police got involved and recorded the dropping of the Qur’an as a ‘non-crime hate incident’. This means that police are operating as if there is an Islamic blasphemy law in place. Can anyone imagine a similar response if a Bible was dropped by a school pupil?

Honour crimes and prisons

There were over 2,800 ‘honour-based’ abuse offences recorded by police in 2021 – that’s an average of eight per day.[45] Many more are undoubtedly unrecorded.

In 2016, a Glasgow shopkeeper was killed, effectively for being the wrong type of Muslim.[46] He had been granted asylum when he moved from Pakistan in 1998. It was expected that Scotland would be a safe place for him and his family. The Crown Prosecution Service has been accused by a whistle-blower of being afraid to tackle honour crimes for fear of causing unrest in Asian communities.[47] Some of these will be against Christian converts from Islam who can face serious threats from family members for rejecting Islam.

In prisons, Muslims are disproportionately represented, being 18% of the prison population.[48] A government report found that prison Imams are routinely distributing extremist literature amongst prisoners.[49] There are also reports of prisoner run ‘sharia courts’ operating in prisons carrying out various types of corporeal punishment.[50] The net result is that prisoners leave prison more radical than when they went in, with many converting to Islam in prison.[51] The latest statistics show that 20% of Muslim prisoners are white which compares with 7.8% of the general Muslim population, an indicator of levels of conversions amongst the prison population.

Volunteer prison chaplain Paul Song was removed from the prison chaplaincy at HMP Brixton in 2017 by the more senior prison imam. Pastor Paul Song had nearly 20 years’ experience working in the prison and running Alpha courses and Just10 courses with prisoners. The imam said that Pastor Song was ‘too radical’. No complaints had been made by any prisoners, and some vocally supported him. With help from the Christian Legal Centre, Pastor Song was later reinstated as volunteer chaplain in 2018.[52] Pastor Song highlighted how Islamic extremists in the prison hijacked his Bible classes, loudly acclaiming the killers of Lee Rigby and claiming it was justified. He described how Muslim gangs dominate the jail, intimidating prisoners into converting to Islam and even physically assaulting him over his Christian faith.[53]

In 2020, there was a terrorist attack inside HMP Whitemoor.[54] Two inmates with bladed weapons attacked and injured five prison staff who all required treatment in hospital, one with serious injuries. The inmates were wearing fake suicide belts and using improvised weapons. Shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar’ were reportedly heard during the attack. One of the attackers had been convicted of preparing an act of terrorism in 2015. Another was serving time for a violent offence and had converted to Islam in prison.

Jihadists

British intelligence services have said that they have a watchlist of some 43,000 people who they consider pose a potential terrorism threat. 90% of these are Muslim.[55] Some 850 British Muslims travelled to support or fight for jihadist groups in Syria or Iraq.[56] Another 600 were stopped on the way.[57] The mother of one of these fighters claimed that her son had been radicalised in just 17 days in London after attending sermons at local mosques.[58] It is not physically possible for intelligence services to monitor all these people, given that MI5 only employ some 5,000 people.[59] It takes three teams of six people, plus support staff, to monitor one person round the clock.[60]

The government’s most recent report on countering terrorism from 2023 makes clear that the primary domestic terrorist threat comes from Islamist terrorism which accounts for approximately 67% of attacks since 2018, around 75% of MI5 caseload, and 64% of those in custody for terrorism related offences.[61] There were around 800 ongoing investigations by Counter Terrorism Police at any one time, and there were 169 arrests for terrorism-related activity in 2022. Since 2018 there have been nine terrorist attacks in the UK, and 39 late-stage terrorist attacks have been disrupted. The current terrorism threat level is Substantial, meaning that an attack is likely. It has emerged, meanwhile, that police were trained on ‘Islamophobia’ by radical group MEND which has defended jihadists and led prayers for “Palestinian victory.”[62] Separately, Metropolitan Police were forced to cut ties with advisor Mohammed Kozbar after it emerged that he had ‘liked’ a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which the former head of extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir had said he could no longer speak for the body.[63] He had also previously praised Hamas’s founder as “the master martyr of the resistance.” There are real concerns about infiltration into mainstream and government-linked organisations by Muslims with radical sympathies.

The head of the Armed Forces said in 2016 that jihadists are “hiding in plain sight” among migrants.[64] One foster mother was shocked to find that the supposed 12-year-old boy she fostered was actually a 21-year-old trained Jihadist, skilled with a rifle, and with Taliban and child abuse material on his phone.[65]

Sharia law

It has been estimated that there are over 85 sharia courts operating in the UK.[66] This has created a de-facto parallel legal system for people in some communities. Women, in particular, may face tremendous family pressure to use sharia courts, and may lack both the necessary English skills and a proper understanding of their rights under British law to otherwise enjoy the protections that would be afforded them through the English court system.[67] In addition to family pressure, refusal to settle a dispute in a sharia forum could lead to threats and intimidation, being labelled as an unbeliever or being ostracised from the community.[68] Machteld Zee has exposed how many of those promoting the operation of sharia councils in the UK are actually fundamentalists who want to turn the UK into an Islamic state, imposing sharia law on all citizens.[69] Sharia law is inherently discriminatory against both women and non-Muslims. In these courts, a woman’s voice counts half as much as a man’s voice. Some sharia court judges have argued for child marriage, or say that “a husband should not be questioned why he hit is wife.”[70]

In 2014, the Britain became the first non-Islamic country to issue a sovereign sharia bond. There are now around nine banks offering sharia compliant products in the UK.[71] In 2014, a government report stated that there were over 100,000 retail customers.[72] Elsewhere I have outlined the various problems with Islamic finance which is based on a modern, radical interpretation of the Qur’an and is promoted by fundamentalists.[73] The UK, nevertheless, remains committed to London becoming a centre for Islamic finance.

Beliefs of Muslims

Rather than discussing the five pillars of Islam, or the six articles of faith which can easily be found elsewhere if you are not familiar with them, I want to look at some worldview ideas proposed by the more fundamentalist end of the spectrum in the UK.

Problems in society

Britain is seen as failing morally and spiritually. Immorality is on public display in our culture, on TV, in films, in the music industry. Socially, family breakdown is evident. Culturally, there is a loss of national identity. Economically there are many issues and criticisms that can be made. Spiritually, Christianity is seen as weak and in decline. Only 5-7% of the population regularly attend church. The critique is made by Muslims that our society is obviously failing in many ways, and we as Christians would very much agree.

Where we would differ would be in the diagnosis of the reasons for the failure of our society. The Islamic view would be that Christianity is to blame for the present failures of our society. Britain is understood to be basically a ‘Christian culture’. But, in their view, Christianity has failed to provide a moral foundation for our society. Christians lack confidence in their beliefs and cannot define or defend their faith well. Christianity is failing to attract people to church, whereas Islam is rapidly growing in this country with many converts from Christianity to Islam. Christians are seen as living no differently to unbelievers, lacking moral integrity, with similar levels of family breakdown. In any case, as Muslims see it, Christianity is false and based on a corrupted scripture.

The attraction of Islam

The solution, therefore, is very clear to the Muslim mindset: Britain and British people should accept Islam as the foundation for society. It is useful to understand the attraction of Islam in this context.[74] Islam is viewed as a moral religion. Alcohol is not allowed, nor is adultery, stealing, or various other crimes. Women cover themselves up, rather than flaunt their sexuality. There are clear penalties for moral violations, both in this life and the next. Christianity, by contrast is seen as relatively immoral, especially when you compare Christian cultures with Islamic cultures.

Islam is also a simple religion. It has a simple creed with a simple theology: one God. There are no complications like a Trinity, or an incarnation, or the atonement, or the Ascension. There is a clear morality, good deeds are weighed against bad. It is fatalistic. Islam, then, is easy. It is the easiest religion in the world to join (and the hardest to leave!). There are only five things to do. The five pillars of Islam. It is very clear whether you have done what is required or not. Islam is recent. It came after Christianity. It has built-in defences against Christianity. Being more recent implies in the minds of some people that it is better, newer, improved and more relevant relative to other religions.

Islam is also a masculine religion. It is a religion for men and by men. Islam attracts men. Christianity is often seen as effeminate, and weak. There are more women than men in most churches. Islam is understood to be a reverent religion. Muslims pray five times a day. Christians are thought to only pray on Sundays. Muslims kneel and bow down before God when praying. Church worship often lacks such obvious reverence. In a consumeristic society, people will choose the religion that they prefer. Islam can appear to be better and more attractive than Christianity in all these ways.

How can the Church respond?

Islam poses a challenge to the church in the UK. It is growing rapidly and gaining influence throughout our society. So how can the church respond?

I would like to outline five pillars of responding to Islam.

First, prayer. Islam is a spiritual entity. This is a spiritual battle. The Bible tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12). Prayer is key. We need to clearly understand that Muslims are redeemable, whereas Islam is not and pray accordingly. Islam works against Christianity and the gospel. All of our interactions and responses to Islam need to be grounded in prayer.

Second, love. Jesus said that we should even love our enemies (Mt 5:44). Muslims are not our enemies, but Islam is an enemy of Christ. Our responses to Islam need to be motivated with love: love for Muslims and love for others. We cannot respond to anger and hatred in any other way than with love. We also need to show that we as a church will love and support those who at great personal cost are willing to leave Islam to follow Christ. This is why we at Christian Concern set up our Safe Haven[75] project to show exactly that kind of love to converts.

Third, we need to confront. It is a mistake to see confrontation as unloving. Jesus confronted the Pharisees in the most forthright manner (Mt 23). Paul confronted the Athenians with the futility of their idolatry (Acts 17:22-34). Paul even publicly confronted Peter over his compromising behaviour (Gal 2:11-14). Islam is an ideology that needs to be confronted. Paul said: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor 10:5 NIV). Islam sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Its truth claims need to be confidently confronted. The church needs to build up resources for Christians to help them confidently challenge and confront Islam in our society at every level; whether it is with friends and neighbours, or in the public square and in the media. We lovingly confront Muslims with the truth claims of Christianity and desire that they should experience the love of Christ. Beth Peltola and I wrote the book Questions to Ask Your Muslim Friends with this in mind.[76] It is intended to equip Christians to engage with their Muslim friends in conversations about their faith.

Fourth, expose. Paul said: “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” (Eph 5:11). There are aspects of Islam that need to be exposed. Islam is an intolerant religion. This does not mean that all Muslims are intolerant people. Rather, it means that the ideology presented in the Qur’an and in the example of Muhammad is intolerant. It is also discriminatory against both women and non-Muslims. It advocates violence and cruel punishments. It seeks political power. These things need to be exposed. Christian Concern seeks to do this with various articles and resources on Islam and its influence.[77] Christians need to shine a light on things that are being done in the name of Islam to expose their true nature.

Fifth, resist. The influence of Islam in our society needs to be resisted in law and in politics. Christians need to be actively involved in this kind of resistance. Amos said: “Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts” (Amos 5:15). Christians should use our legal rights and freedoms to maintain and protect Christian freedoms. A great example of successful resistance was the campaign to stop the mega-mosque from being built in London for the 2012 Olympics. The original plans were for a building that could hold at least 40,000 worshippers, making it the largest place of worship in the whole of Europe.[78] The mosque was backed by Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat, who preach a conservative and separationist version of Islam. The mosque was successfully resisted with a campaign led by Alan Craig and a small group of others, which also garnered support from the local moderate Muslim community.[79] Christian Concern supports Christian street preachers who are deemed to have offended people by insulting Islam, with a 100% success record in defending free-speech so far. We have also defended Christians who have lost their jobs for witnessing to Muslims. Baroness Cox has valiantly sought to resist the influence of sharia courts through parliamentary bills. This kind of resistance needs to grow and gain wide support in the Church as we seek to preserve our Christian freedoms.

Part of the challenge of Islam is that Islam is bold and unashamed in its approach. In this respect, it can put to shame those Christians who shy away from talking about their faith or proclaiming its relevance to society. In the end, the only effective response to radical Islam is radical Christianity. If more of us were radical, bold and unashamed about our faith, confident in confrontation and challenging Islam’s claims, then many more Muslims would turn to Christianity. As it is, there are reports of some churches baptising Muslim believers on a regular basis. God appears to have chosen to use Islam to awaken the church. The question is will we respond to this call?

[1] https://christianconcern.com/comment/chaos-in-parliament-as-islamic-protests-cause-security-concerns/

[2] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/22/islamists-are-bullying-britain-into-submission/

[3] https://christianconcern.com/comment/chaos-in-parliament-as-islamic-protests-cause-security-concerns/

[4] https://christianconcern.com/comment/sir-david-amess-victim-of-islamic-terrorism/

[5] https://www.mikefreer.com/news/statement-next-general-election

[6] https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1760593429556334793

[7]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/bulletins/religionenglandandwales/census2021

[8] http://www.ijesd.org/papers/29-D438.pdf

[9] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/11/29/europes-growing-muslim-population/

[10] http://www.mcb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/MCB-Muslims-in-Numbers-infographic-final.jpg

[11]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/datasets/babynamesenglandandwalesbabynamesstatisticsboys

[12] https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/unsettled-belonging-a-survey-of-britains-muslim-communities/