The Joseph Rowntree Foundation today published a new report 'Immigration, faith and cohesion' examining challenges to "community cohesion" among recent immigrant communities.
Focusing mainly on Muslim communities in Birmingham, Bradford and Newham, the report, which was based on interviews with 319 individuals, idenitified a number of important trends:
- A vast majority of recent migrants - of all faiths and background - said they placed the highest value on democracy, fairness, justice and security in Britain.
- All Muslim interviewees' closest relationships were with family and others from similar backgrounds.
- Non-Muslim immigrants were more likely to mix with people from different religious and ethnic backgrounds.
- Many Muslim interviewees reported that experience of racism - and of religious discrimination - prevented them from feeling like fully-fledged members of society.
The full report is available here.