PREJUDICE against Muslims has "passed the dinner table test" and become socially acceptable, Baroness Warsi, the co-chairman of the Conservative Party, has claimed.
In a script for a talk due to be delivered last night, Lady Warsi - the first Muslim woman to attend Cabinet - said faith was discussed in a "patronising, superficial" way, making Britain a less tolerant place for believers.
She said she believed prejudice against Muslims was now seen by many people as normal and uncontroversial, and that expressions of disdain for Britain's nearly two million-strong Muslim minority were becoming acceptable in polite society.
"You could even say that Islamophobia has now passed the dinner table test," she wrote.
But she was expected to warn against portraying Muslims as either "moderate" or "extreme".
"It's not a big leap of imagination to predict where this talk of 'moderate' Muslims leads," she wrote. "In the factory, where they've just hired a Muslim worker, the boss says to employees: 'Not to worry, he's only fairly Muslim'. In the school, the kids say: 'The family next door are Muslim but they're not too bad'.
"And in the road, as a woman walks past wearing a burka, the passers-by think: 'That woman's either oppressed or is making a political statement'."
The speech also reveals that she raised the issue of Islamophobia with Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Britain last year, urging him to "create a better understanding between Europe and its Muslim citizens".
Her decision to speak out suggests the government is willing to tackle sensitive issues of race and religion.
Muslims in Scotland backed Lady Warsi's views. "We particularly welcome Baroness Warsi's acknowledgement of the role the media plays in this process of normalising Islamophobia, as well as the counter-productiveness of categorisations such as 'moderate' and 'extremist' Muslims," said a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Scotland.
