Home Office Regulations 'Nanny State Gone Mad' - Teather

11.33.50am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 10th Mar 2005

Sarah Teather

Under Home Office proposed regulations just announced Ministers of religion will have to show an understanding of civic life. All overseas religious workers seeking leave to stay in Britain would be tested after a year to show their knowledge of Britain and asked to prove that they had integrated with other faith groups.

They would be questioned about parliamentary democracy, the tax system and anti-discrimination laws. Last August, rules requiring Ministers of religion to have a good grasp of English were introduced.

Commenting on the new proposals Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for London Sarah Teather MP said:

"This is the nanny state gone mad. The tests will merely teach people to learn facts rather than be a true test of any integration. Does the Home Office now intend to introduce parity across all religions so that parish priests are forced to become experts in the tax system and parliamentary procedure?

"This Government's first instinct when faced with something it doesn't like or understand is to introduce complex legislation or ban it. The Home Office oddly seems to think that extremism is born out of a lack of knowledge of Parliamentary procedure.

"The Muslim community have a right once again to be irritated by the Government singling out their religion as a source of extremism and terrorism. The case of Abu Hamza must not be used by the Government as the basis for all regulations concerning Ministers of religion."

Sarah Teather MP for Brent East and Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for London yesterday handed over a 1,000 strong petition from the Shree Swaminarayan Temple, Willesden Lane regarding the Home Office regulations on Minister's of Religion speaking English to 10 Downing Street.

Commenting on the petition presented by the Temple, Sarah Teather MP added:

"The Home Office seems to have a complete misunderstanding of the Hindu faith. The implications for Hinduism appears to have been overlooked and this policy betrays a lack of understanding of the role of a Poojari. There is a severe risk that this regulation will eventually make it impossible for Hindu Temples to recruit appropriately qualified personnel this whole thing seems to have been drafted from a Judeo-Christian perspective."

Notes to editors

1) The Home Office have recently announced plans to consultation-open consultation on the regulations.

2) Last August, rules requiring ministers of religion to have a good grasp of English were introduced. In response Sarah Teather MP tabled an Early Day Motion that read:

"That this House notes with concern the implications for Hindu Temples of the new Home Office immigration rules affecting Ministers of Religion effective from 31 August 2004, which requires all such Ministers to demonstrate fluency in the English language to level 4; notes that this hampers the recruitment of Poorjaries, in particular, whose roles are highly specialised and who are trained in India; notes that the role of a Poojari is to perform the daily rites for the Hindu gods in the Temple and Arti, which involve caring for the gods on a daily basis with prayers and meditation; notes that these daily rites are central to the Hindu religion; notes that the role of a Poojari does not involve preaching to the congregation and that this role is generally performed by Swarmis, Sadhus or Hindu preachers, who have knowledge of English; further notes that the Poojari's job requires knowledge of the Hindu texts written in Sanskrit and knowledge of Gujarati and Hindi for sung worship, but not English; and regrets that the Home Office would appear to have introduced regulations based on a Judeo-Christian model of worship without considering the implications for other faiths, and calls upon the Home Office to amend its regulations to provide an exception to Poojaries because they do not preach."