Imams, priests, rabbis and other religious figures will have to enrol in a “national register of faith leaders” and be subject to government-specified training and security checks, The Telegraph reports.
The proposal appears in a leaked draft of the Government’s new counter-extremism strategy, seen by The Telegraph, which goes substantially further than previous versions of the document.
The strategy, due to be published this autumn, says that Whitehall will “require all faiths to maintain a national register of faith leaders” and the Government will “set out the minimum level of training and checks” faith leaders must have to join the new register.
Registration will be compulsory for all faith leaders who wish to work with the public sector, including universities, the document says.
The move marks a significant deepening of the state’s involvement in religion and is likely to be resisted by many religious representatives.
David Cameron, the Prime Minister, has said that the fight against Islamist extremism is the “struggle of our generation” and has to be won for the same reasons that Nazism was defeated.
Prominent Muslim organisations and activists have denounced the government’s strategy, saying that it is based on a neo-conservative understanding of radicalisation and that it targets the Muslim community.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
