Berkley Center

London is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. As a demonstration of this one must look no farther than my own flat which consists of eight London School of Economics (LSE) students. However, only two of them share the same religion. The rest have different religions making for a total of seven different beliefs in my small flat: Catholic, Hindu, Muslim, Protestant, Atheist, Buddhist, and Christian. My flat is only a microcosm of the Londoner’s' reality where one is constantly confronted with churches of different Christian denominations right across the street from restaurants that serve halal food. These scenes of religious pluralism lead us to a deeper realization: London has transcended the religious divide in their secularization.

One of the misconceptions I had of England before I came to London was that there was going to be much intolerance towards people who are not Anglican, especially Catholics. This had been ingrained in my psyche after studying so much throughout my entire life about Henry VIII, the establishment of the Church of England, and the subsequent, often bloody, century of disputes between Catholicism and Anglicanism in the reigns of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth I, and the early Stuarts. I thought it was going to be hard to openly declare my beliefs as a Catholic in this environment. However, the situation here is much different than what I imagined. Londoners are very accepting of other religions. There is such a plurality of beliefs in the city that Londoners have acquired understanding of other beliefs. As a result, there is also openness about the discussion of different religions between individuals of different faiths. These interreligious discussions can only take place because of the high level of religious tolerance.

This degree of tolerance is much higher among the younger generations. I have heard stories from my friends about their parent’s unwillingness to accept that they do not adhere completely to their own religious beliefs. For example, one of my Hindu friends has parents who will only allow her to marry someone from her own social caste. There is another example of one of my Muslim friends who only wears her hijab when her parents are around. As a result on some occasions it leads them to lie and “fake” their religious beliefs with their parents. This imposition of the parent’s' faith leads them to become more tolerant towards other religions. Whereas their parents might force some religion upon them, they tend to be much more accepting of other beliefs. Therefore this might be the reason that there is more religious tolerance and much more interfaith dialogue among the younger generations. Even then, these cases are just the exceptions. The examples of religious tolerance outnumber those of intolerance. Therefore, what is very much prevalent throughout England is the acceptance of all different religious beliefs or lack thereof.

In this letter I cannot explore the reasons for the acceptance of all religions, but one reason might be precisely because of all the interreligious strife in earlier centuries has led individuals to reject this intolerance towards other religions in the process of secularization. This is seen in regular exchanges about religion between my friends. A particularly relevant one is when my Hindu friends asked me whether I was going to Sunday Mass. After that I ask her whether she is going to the Hindu festival of Diwali (Festival of Light). At the end of the conversation comes another one of my Muslim friends wearing her hijab to join in on our conversation. By this example I wish to show the degree of religious tolerance prevalent in everyday life where everyone accepts the different religious beliefs and is open to their discussion.