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If you are seeking muscular Christianity you need look no further than Tim Dieppe. In his new book, The Challenge of Islam, the head of policy at Christian Concern pulls no punches in confronting probably the greatest problem facing the Church and the country today.

This well-resourced book opens with a stream of statistics forensically illustrating just how rapidly Islam is growing as a social, cultural and political influence in today’s UK.

The statistics tell an alarming tale for our future as a society. At just under 4million in 2021, the Muslim population has grown by 44 per cent in a decade and now constitutes 6.5 per cent of the population. For the past six years Muhammed in its various spellings has been the most popular boys’ name. The average age of the UK population is 40 years whilst the average age of Muslims is 27 and the average age of Christians is 51. It is clear which way the tide is flowing.

The failure of multiculturalism leading to a dangerous lack of integration with its erosion of social cohesion and the rise in cultural tensions is made clear. As well as being harmful to Muslims themselves, holding back as it does the weakest in Islamic communities, the women and children, the lack of Muslim integration poses a significant danger to the wider society.

Worryingly, 3 per cent of Muslims say they support ISIS-style efforts to establish a caliphate. This may seem a small proportion but 3 per cent of 4million equates to 120,000 individuals. At a time when it is not physically possible to monitor all 40,000 known terrorist suspects, 24 per cent of Muslims say they would approve of violence in support of Islam.

There are 85 Sharia courts operating in the UK today, with their bias against women and non-Muslims, and 32 per cent of Muslims support the introduction of Sharia into British law. Nearly a third (31 per cent) think that a man should be allowed to have more than one wife.

The threat to our cherished freedoms inherent in the growth of the Muslim population is a real one. We are losing free speech when it comes to criticism of Islam or even critical examination of its regressive religious practices. Seventy-eight per cent of Muslims say there should be no freedom to publish pictures of Muhammed, while 87 per cent would deny us the freedom to make fun of their prophet. We should not forget the Batley Grammar School teacher who is still in hiding under threat of death for using pictures of Muhammed in a lesson.

This threat to free speech will become more draconian with the governing Labour Party promoting the All Party Parliamentary Group’s (APPG) flawed definition of Islamophobia. This definition has been supported by political parties and councils throughout Britain in an unthinking fit of eagerness to appear compassionate and progressive.

Islam is a religion and not a race, yet the APPG describes critical examination of Islam as a form of racism. This is no slip of the pen. It is so defined to get around Section 29J of the Public Order Act 1986. The Act prohibits racist speech but Section 29J, known as the Waddington Amendment, protects open critical religious discussion, proselytising and even the ridiculing of religion. If Islamophobia is defined as a form of cultural racism, critics of Islam will have no protection in law. As Dieppe reminds us, ‘Striking a Muslim is a crime, debating her religion is a right.’ That right must be defended.

Islam should not be accorded a privileged position in British society. If included in future legislation the APPG’s definition will become in effect a new blasphemy law, one rejected by every other religion in the UK. Most religions such as Christianity welcome open discussion; Islam does not. The APPG definition would also have a serious effect on anti-terror efforts which protect the public.

The Challenge of Islam looks at other aspects of Islam such as Islamic finance. Dieppe questions the oft-spoken claim that ‘Islam is a religion of peace’. He does not argue that most Muslims are not peaceful people. He does, however, make clear that its founder was not a man of peace, its history and spread is marked by violence and its teachings advocate suppression of other religions. There is a chapter on the deep anti-Semitism of Islam in its history and present actions. An ADL survey in 2019 found that 11 per cent of the UK population had anti-Semitic attitudes. Amongst Muslims the figure was 54 per cent.

Perhaps the most alarming aspect of this book is how it reveals the corrosive extent of fear amongst politicians and the media. There is a collective unwillingness to confront the problem and a readiness to cover up and apologise. Our establishment is even willing to sacrifice thousands of vulnerable young girls and women to Muslim rape gangs in order to preserve a non-existent community cohesion.

Dieppe not only criticises Islam, he gives ten pointers to a proper response. These include curbing the operation of Sharia courts, tightening up marriage visa rules, holding police accountable for treating all people equally under the law, robustly defending free speech and reducing overall levels of immigration.

This nation should be unashamedly identified as Christian. This does not mean a nation of Christians, rather accepting that our laws and culture are based on biblical teaching. Who we are as a people is bound up with Christianity; if we reject those ties we are no longer the people we once were and Britain is lost.

This book is important. As Dieppe says in his introduction, ‘At its root, this is a battle for the soul of the nation. It is a battle we cannot afford to lose.’ Christians cannot help but be anti-Islam, which is an utter negation of the Christian faith. That does not mean we should be anti-Muslim. As Dieppe says, ‘Muslims are redeemable, Islam is not.’ The only real antidote to radical Islam is radical Christianity.