We always knew it could happen: A devout Muslim heads a conservative political party that takes office in a multicultural Western country, then leads a campaign to enforce mandatory prayer and to lobby for religious-based values and laws. How will people react?<\/p>\n
Well, it happened in Britain this week, and here\u2019s how they reacted: Judges and leading thinkers fought back in the name of a secular state, but the Queen, the Pope and Britain\u2019s right-wing newspapers all spoke up in support of the Muslim party leader\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n
This was because the leader in question is Baroness Warsi, chairman of the Conservative Party and a senior minister in David Cameron\u2019s government. She\u2019s a popular figure among Tories and an entertaining personality who frequently appears on British TV. She\u2019s also a devout Muslim, a faith-based cultural conservative and a staunch defender of religion\u2019s role in public life.<\/p>\n
Her campaign began Monday, after Britain\u2019s High Court ruled that the practice of holding prayers during municipal council meetings is unconstitutional (as, by extension, may be those held during sittings of the House of Commons). Prayer, the judge ruled, is a private matter that has no place in the formal proceedings of a legal assembly.<\/p>\n