Three Paradoxes in the Relations between Religion and Politics in an English City

Abstract

This paper reports findings from a recent study of the interpenetration of religion and politics in relation to school education in a large and religiously diverse English city. The findings are based mainly on data collected through interviews with fifty representatives of the city's faith communities, elected Councilors, Council officials, school teachers and administrators, and staff in community development organizations. The main objective is to analyze three paradoxes which arise in a country which lacks a constitutional separation of church and state and which contains significant non-Christian minorities. The main finding is that Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs are able to bring their distinctive religious values to bear on debates about educational policy in spite ofa political opportunity structure which may appear to exclude them.