Let’s learn tolerance, not divisive buzzwords

FORMER British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said the Muslim veil is “a statement of separation and difference”.

He asked his own Muslim women constituents to consider loosening their veils to allow for better communication. The Muslim community has given a mixed response and Islamophobia is the buzzword used to describe the circumstances now generating tension in certain parts of the UK.

The UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, told a UN conference in 2004 that “when the world is compelled to coin a new term to take account of increasingly widespread bigotry, that is a sad and troubling development. Such is the case with Islamaphobia”.

Why discuss Islamophobia when doing so can indirectly breed contempt also for other religions? Integration is a slow process. So, instead of emphasising division with buzzwords, we should be teaching our young people tolerance, respect and appreciation of other cultures in our midst.

Brian Strahan

Palmer Road

Rush

Co Dublin