Issues of Faith

At the same time the extreme Left is browbeating any contact Republicans have with people of faith, accusing them of trying to set up a Theocracy, things are no better in Britain. The Guardian reports Issues of faith could lose Labour one of its strongholds in the poorest borough of London.... But there is another reason why this campaign has become a flashpoint of the election. It risks being fought along religious lines. 'At stake here is whether we have a politics that appeal to people's religious background or ethnic background, rather than a politics based on issues.... If we can show the world that we can build a community, rather than divide it, along religious and ethnic lines, people will say, if it is possible there, it is possible anywhere.'... But this is a borough where people care more about what happens in Palestine than what happens in London, where Baghdad feels closer than Brixton

At a conference for Bengali Women Entrepreneurs, I speak with Anisah, a twentysomething who works in community development. She is pretty, soft-spoken, traditionally clad in a hijab. 'When our parents came from Bangladesh, they encountered racism: they were brown, they were ethnically different, this was the big issue that influenced their lives. Today we encounter religious discrimination ... I felt that I was personally blamed for 11 September - and that all Muslims were.' Derwala Takdir, who works for the Active Women's Group, agrees: 'Islam and terrorism, Islam and terrorism, the words always appear together in the media. It has become very difficult to be a Muslim in Britain. We feel isolated.'

The Bengali Women Entrepreneurs' Conference is held at the huge, ultra-modern Muslim Community Centre on the Mile End road. The six-storey complex houses a plethora of Bengali community associations, a mosque, two boys' schools, a gym, several lecture halls. It was built in 2004 with contributions from the Muslim community

Gene @HarrysPlace blogged George Galloway never tires of telling conservative religious voters that he is against abortion.

'I have religious beliefs and try to live by them,' Galloway tells me. 'I have all my life been against abortion and against euthanasia... I am not surprised if my position on these issues strikes a chord.' So why did he write to The Guardian last June: I am not opposed to a woman's right to choose and neither is the Respect coalition... Now Galloway may be personally against abortion. But if he is "not opposed to a woman's right to choose," doesn't that make him pro-choice? Or is he trying to have it both ways: assuring conservative Muslims that he shares their abhorrence of abortion, while signaling to his secular leftist supporters that he's really on their side?

Harry @HarrysPlace: blogged Is Galloway embarassed at sharing an agenda on such issues that not even the most right-wing Tory candidate would admit to holding?

'I have religious beliefs and try to live by them,' Galloway tells me. 'I have all my life been against abortion and against euthanasia - in fact, on Question Time two weeks ago I was the only panellist to inveigh against the creeping euthanasia in our society. I am not surprised if my position on these issues strikes a chord.'

It appears that politicians in Britain are just like politicians here in the US. They tell whatever group they are talking to exactly what that group wants to hear.