Religious protest and its impact on cultural policy

Abstract

This paper explores the implications for public cultural policy of recent religious protests against cultural productions and of requests for cultural organisations to accommodate religious rulings. It examines this subject in the context of the idea and practice of secularism, and considers whether religious protests and pressures over culture have had an impact on the assumptions of public cultural policy. The paper questions whether some of the theoretical approaches which have been brought to bear on these questions – the ‘clash of civilisations’ thesis, models of multiculturalism, and freedom of expression arguments – can help to understand these tensions and their resolution. The paper examines the case of Arts Council England's ‘Faith and the Arts’ project, as an example of a significant policy initiative, in order to provide insight into the role of public cultural policy itself in resolving these tensions between culture and religion.

Keywords:

• religious protests against culture
• models of secularism
• democracy and dissent
• public cultural policy

Acknowledgements

My thanks to all the interviewees who generously gave their time to talk about these events and issues, and to the two anonymous referees for their helpful comments on this paper.

Notes

1. Hereinafter referred to as Behzti. Sikhs demonstrated in Birmingham against the play mainly because it portrayed violent acts, including rape, taking place in the setting of a Gurdwara (Sikh temple). Initially‐peaceful protests outside the theatre turned violent as some participants attacked and broke into the building, smashing windows, and disrupting not only the performance of Behzti but also a show for children taking place at the same time. Eight hundred people had to be evacuated from the theatre. Death threats were made against the playwright, forcing her to go into hiding.

2. For example, Daniel McGrory and Dan Sabbagh: ‘Cartoon wars and the clash of civilisations’, The Times, 3 February 2006; David Rennie and Tim Butcher: ‘What started off as a row between Denmark's press and its Muslim population grew into a full‐blown “clash of civilisations”’ (‘Day of anger threatened over cartoons of Prophet’, Daily Telegraph, 4 February 2006).

3. Huntington is, himself, quoting Bernard Lewis: ‘We are facing a mood and a movement far transcending the level of issues and policies and the governments that pursue them. This is no less than a clash of civilizations’ (‘The Roots of Muslim Rage’, The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 266, September 1990, p. 60).

4. Huntington generally seems to use the term ‘culture’ in its broadest sense; thus religion is an aspect of culture, along with language, history, customs, and the arts.

5. As well as holding demonstrations outside BBC buildings, Christian Voice also published on its website the home telephone numbers of BBC executives and governors, who then received threatening phone calls.

6. The show was described as an ‘abusive portrayal of figures held by Christians to be [dear]’ (statement by religious figures in Plymouth, quoted in The Guardian, G2, 31 January 2006. Christian Voice objected to the ‘obscenities’, including swear words, and the ‘sexual deviancy’ shown, particularly those involving important Christian characters (http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/springer.html [Accessed 11 April 2008]).

7. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham criticised Birmingham Rep for ‘not [being] more responsive’ to the ‘deep concerns’ of Sikhs (Britten 2004a) over Behzti, and Sikhs joined a demonstration outside the BBC in Birmingham organised by Christian Voice, against Jerry Springer – The Opera (Pinch 2005).

8. www.faithandthearts.com. Since submission of this paper, the website has become ‘more independent’ (author's telephone conversation with Abid Husain, 9 April 2010), though still with Arts Council support, and has been re‐structured. Not all the following details, therefore, are still found on the website.

9. Bahai, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jain, Judaism, Rastafari, Sikhism.

10. http://www.faithandthearts.com/aboutus.php [Accessed 17 September 2007].

11. Author's interview with Abid Hussain, 9 November 2007. (All following quotes by Hussain are from this interview unless otherwise stated.) Hussain has also organised activities focussed on Islam, including a series of seminars on art and Islam which he presented to Art's Council England staff and arts organisations in most of Art's Council England's regions.

12. Author's telephone conversation with Abid Hussain, 24 April 2008.

13. Author's interview with Toby Watley, 18 April 2008. (All following quotes by Watley are from this interview.)

14. Author's interview with Paul Keene, 11 April 2008. (Subsequent quotes by Keene are from this interview unless otherwise stated.)

15. Author's interview with Ben Payne, 14 March 2008.

16. Author's interview with Ben Payne, 14 March 2008.

17. The production of Behzti was very well‐booked, and its audiences were multi‐cultural, including a considerable proportion of young Asians (author's interview with Birmingham Rep General Manager, Trina Jones, 8 July 2008).

18. Correspondence with Paul Keene, 21 April 2008.

19. Nearly 30% of Birmingham's population are from ethnic minority groups (Source: Birmingham City Council, www.birmingham.gov.uk [Accessed 14 April 2008]).

20. Correspondence with Paul Keene, 24 April 2008.

21. Author's telephone interview with Stuart Griffiths, 28 April 2008.

22. Author's telephone interview with Selene Burn, 22 April 2008.

23. Author's telephone interview with Trina Jones, 22 April 2008.