LONDON — A confidential Church of England report leaked to a newspaper has blasted Britain’s government for giving “preferential” treatment to Muslims since a string of deadly suicide bombs on London’s rail and bus system 15 months ago. Excerpts from the report, published in The Sunday Telegraph Oct. 8 in London, also claimed authorities had given “privileged attention” to Muslim communities and the Islamic faith in its “schizophrenic” attempts to mold Britain into a multifaith nation.
A key part of the paper cited the July 7, 2005 attacks on London’s transportation system by four Muslim suicide bombers that killed 52 commuters and the subsequent actions the government has allegedly taken to try to curry favor with Islamic communities. Listed among the “preferential moves” were shelving legislation aimed at halting forced marriages and encouraging unspecified “financial arrangements” to comply with Islamic requirements. It said such treatment has been accorded to Muslims despite the fact that Britain is an overwhelmingly Christian nation at heart — 72 percent, according to the 2001 census — and that the country’s estimated 1.8 million Muslims amount to barely 3 percent of the overall population.
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