Dr Philip Lewis, an interfaith adviser to the Bishop of Bradford, said that the plans threaten to establish a ghetto of Muslims taught to embrace jihad.
Tablighi Jamaat, the group behind the proposal, are “isolationist”, “patriarchal” and has a narrow reading of Islam that leaves it vulnerable to extremists, he said.
In the first intervention by a Church figure over the controversial project, Dr Lewis raised fears that a 12,000-capacity mosque in London would lead to a segregated Muslim community. The mosque would be four times the size of Britain’s largest cathedral.
“Tablighi Jamaat does not try to engage with wider society so there must be clear worries that such a mosque would lead to a ghetto,” he said.
All well and good until it strikes you that [i]”isolationist”, “patriarchal” and has a narrow reading of . . . that leaves it vulnerable to extremists,[/i] might ultimately be applied by a Human Rights Commission near you to a group of conservative Christians. If there is proof that violent acts are being sponsored by this group, that’s a different matter.
[one liners and profanity not appreciated — elves]
This report does not mention one of the aspects of the mosque – namely that it is very near the main site for the London Olympics. Cameras panning across London then swooping on the Olympics would almost certainly have to take in the soaring mosque – thus portraying to all the world London as a Muslim city.
‘…thus portraying to all the world London as a Muslim city.’
– which is what parts of East London are – Bangladesh-on-Thames.