Shared Religion but still a Marginalised Other: Middle Eastern Christian Migrants Encounters with Political Secularism in the UK

This Paper engages with the theme of political secularism and religious difference by exploring a minority in both regions covered by the workshop – Middle Eastern Christians. Like other religious minorities in the Middle East, Christians have tended to favour ‘secular values’ in politics as a means of attempting to acquire equal rights as citizens and restricting the public role of Islam (Tadros 2013; McCallum 2010). The migration of Middle Eastern Christians from their regional ‘homelands’ to Europe is due to multiple reasons – economic hardships, conflict situations, discrimination and in some cases, violence as a consequence of their Christian identity in a Muslim-majority environment (Armbruster 2013; Schmoller 2016). The UK can be seen as providing new opportunities for Middle Eastern Christians given its Christian heritage and support for religious tolerance and equality (Modood 2010). Yet, assumptions of shared Christian identity as a basis of practising belonging to their new state proved unfounded as the process of political secularism has led to a situation where they consider that they are still a marginalised ‘Other’ due to their ethnic background and are disillusioned due to receiving little or no recognition of their religious status and at the perceived challenges they face in practising Christianity. This Paper will locate the case study in a discussion on secularism, church-state relations and multiculturalism before presenting the narratives of encounters with political secularism including perspectives on the idea of Britain as a Christian country and subsequent disillusionment; the impact on interactions such as views on expressing faith, political correctness and religious difference; and the implications for the younger generations. The study is based on focus groups and semi-structured interviews with Egyptian, Iraqi and Assyrian Christians residing in the UK conducted in 2014-2015 as part of an interdisciplinary project on Middle Eastern Christians in Europe.