Paper 1: ‘We don’t do God’? the changing nature of public religion By Professor Tariq Modood 

I Secular states and public religions
Two things learnt: Every state in the EU gives funding either to religious schools or for religious education in state schools, and over a third collect taxes or help raise money for (some) religions. ‘Moderate secularism’ is where the autonomy of the state goes hand in hand with the autonomy of churches and associated religious freedoms albeit taking different forms and being institutionalised in different ways in each Western European state depending upon its distinctive history, religious demography, state tradition and political culture. 
Question/provocation: If a religion isn’t inclusive and is being practiced in an inclusive country, should it still be financed by the state?

II Western European moderate secularism
Two things learnt: Three important features of it that illuminate the kind of public space it gives to organised religion, and which can be helpful in considering the ethos that might guide public institutions in a country such as Britain are: Religion is a public, not just a private good; A national church (or churches), as key organisers of this public good, belong to the people/country, not just its members and clergy; It is legitimate for the state to be involved in bringing out the element of public good associated with organised religion (and not just protecting the public good from the dangers that organised religion can pose).
The Lutheran Church in Denmark is almost universally thought by Danes to be a central element of Danish national identity, even though a minority say they believe in its doctrines and even fewer attend worship; in these and other ‘moderate secular’ countries, such individuals, even if they be atheists, feel they have a right to use the national church for occasions such as weddings and funerals.
Question/provocation: Do we lose heritage if we eradicate religion?

III Multiculturalism
Two things learnt: Multiculturalism as a mode of post-immigration integration involves not just the reversal of marginalisation but also a remaking of national citizenship so that all can have a sense of belonging to it; for example, creating a sense of being French that Jews and Muslims, as well as Catholics and secularists, can envisage for themselves. Some (religious) identities will build an ideology out of their subordination, others will not, just as a woman can choose to be a feminist or not. 
Question/provocation: Does focusing on the economy and having enough of a financially secure life prevent all religious extremism – such as ‘neutral’ Switzerland, ‘pumping’ money into Northern Ireland that might have decreased IRA activity, etc.?

Interview with Saffron Mustafa

Saffron at the time of the interview is an art graduate at the Camberwell College of Arts. The article focuses on her experience being brought up Muslim, growing up with white British parents who had converted to Islam before having her. Having not much connection to white British people, she describes being closer to Asian Muslims while growing up – especially having lived in Saudi Arabia for two years where there was plenty of support to integrate within Islam, her family found the return to Britain particularly discriminatory. She shares experiences of her parents having trouble finding work or wearing a hijab in Britain at the time and being repetitively asked about where they come from. Nowadays, Saffron describes herself spiritual rather than religious, but doesn’t deny that the religious upbringing is surely affecting her art. It is interesting, but it feels that when parents make ‘radical’ religious choices outside of contexts where that particular religious choice is ‘native’, children often ‘outgrow the religion’ understanding that every person in his/her essence is spiritual (as per Jung, we are all physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual beings equally) and religion can be a path to accepting spirituality but does not have to be.

Kwame Anthony Appiah Reith lecture on ‘Creed’

The most interesting insight for me was the ‘equality treatment’ in several religions described by Kwame: Buddha teaches all phenomena are neither male nor female, as even when their appear in female bodies, they are still not female. St Paul weighs whether women should wear veil and or not to send a message to the Gallaecian, finally coming to ‘we are all one in Christ Jesus’. In Quran we are, again, all the same in submission to Allah. 

But also posing these one-liner thoughts: 
We too, shall one day become ancestors. That not only made me think about the passing of time, but also legacy – what remains from us for our future generations – should we teach children from early age to think throughout their lives what they leave behind or is that a burden?  
History of Faith is the history of doubt. If we are constantly in doubt, can we be happy?
How do we introduce faith to those (women) that had been injured by that faith? This is something I find problematic – I don’t necessarily relate faith to religion; we can have faith, although some of us struggle to feel it, that things are going to evolve as they should and that might give us peace and comfort throughout our life, which is believable and ‘easy’ when one isn’t in the midst of trauma. As a completely different category we find religion – a communal system of belief, behaviour and actions that can make you feel like you belong to a society or feel rejected if you don’t ‘comply’ to the rules.