Title: Present at the Creation: Diaspora, Hybridity and the Place of Jews in the History of English Toleration
Abstract: Over the last decade voices on both sides of the Atlantic have attempted to write the obituary of multiculturalism. In newspaper opinion pieces, published books and political speeches calls have issued from both right and left to rethink attitudes towards religious and cultural diversity. In Britain, as in the US, this debate has served as an intersection for a variety of volatile issues, ranging from immigration and the relationship between church and state to concerns about Islamic radicalism and the nature of national identity. The combination of a tepid allegiance to national symbols and the ongoing celebration of immigrant linguistic, religious or cultural traditions has, according to many commentators, been a corrosive one, resulting in a dangerous weakening of social cohesion, if not the outright fostering of extremism. This is a narrative based in both tragedy and irony. An indigenous tradition of religious toleration is taken to be a central part of what it means to be British, yet that tradition is seen to have resulted in an undue acceptance of groups who do not share the core British value of tolerance. For some, the only way to defend diversity has been to expose its limits. As Tony Blair stated in a now famous 2006 speech, '[o]ur tolerance is part of what makes Britain, Britain. So conform to it; or don't come here.'1
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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