The Bloom Review: Analysis
The key takeaway for the government in improving its religious literacy with groups that seek to limit religious inspired extremism, is to ensure that such groups are not guilty of inspiring extremism
Faith groups in the United Kingdom could be a force for good concludes a landmark review into faith engagement. For this to be successful, the review asserts, the British government needs to improve its engagement with them. Furthermore, improving religious literacy at a governmental level will help authorities in dealing with matters of extremism that do not appear to be abating. These are important findings that require a great deal of attention and strategic oversight for them to have any material success.
The review: Does government ‘do God?’ was published towards the end of March, 2023. The author of the report, Colin Bloom is the government’s independent faith engagement advisor. The report concentrates on faith in prisons and probation as well as faith-based extremism. It asserts that while Islamist extremism is the dominant threat by volume, more attention must be placed on other forms of extremism such as white-supremacy, pro-Khalistani extremism and Hindu nationalism.
The report has troubling findings when it comes to faith literacy and deradicalisation in prisons. Following a call for evidence, Bloom discovers that prison chaplains were worried about the destabilising impact of religious extremist groups in prisons. These include, but are not limited to: forced and coercive conversions, illegal religious courts, violent faith-based gangs and the distribution of extremist material. For example, talks by al-Qaeda ideologue, the Yemini-American Anwar al-Awlaki, were alleged to have been used to inspire Muslim prisoners to carry out acts of violence and to shape the prison landscape so that it was advantageous to extremist Islamists.
The Yemini-American cleric, Al-Awlaki, who was killed in an American drone strike in 2011, is believed to have had an enduring influence over Muslims in the West. A 2016 report from Combating Terrorism Centre (CTS) details how the leading English-language propagandist for al-Qa’ida, despite his death, still inspired Muslims to carry out acts of terror. This notable influence was evident in both the San Bernardino terrorist attack in 2015 and the Orlando terrorist attack in 2016 which was carried out by ‘homegrown jihadis’ inspired by the Islamic State (IS). It is pertinent to note that while Anwar al-Awlaki was not a member of the Islamic State, he nonetheless influenced the terrorist group beyond the grave.
In 2020, four prison officers and a nurse were injured in an act of terrorism at Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Whitemoor. The two inmates, wearing fake suicide vests, used a bladed weapon to stab the prison staff with one officer sustaining serious stab injuries to his head, face and back. Despite the United Kingdom having a history of terrorist attacks during the Troubles with the Irish Republican Army (IRA), with many members being imprisoned, this was the first time a recorded terrorist incident took place within a prison complex. This raises further questions as to the effectiveness of state-maintained prisons that while they can prevent acts of terrorism in the public for a period of time, they cannot stop them from taking place within enclosed spaces.
While Islamist extremism by volume is the dominant threat facing the United Kingdom, it is by means the only one - White Supremacism and British Nationalism both pose a threat that requires proportionate attention from the government and security services. This has come in the form of proscribing groups that have met the threshold of criminal activity. The Bloom report alludes to the fact that the British Government have taken positive steps in limiting the influence and reach of groups such as The Base, the Atomwaffen Division and Britain First. Notably, while these groups are not religious in character, they do employ religious imagery and symbols as forms of visual representations. These relate specifically to the Christian tradition and traditional values, conjuring up an imagined past at threat from outside influences such as immigration and Islam.
The terrorist group The Base was proscribed in 2021. The Home Secretary at the time, Rt Hon Priti Patel, took action to outlaw the predominantly US-based militant white supremacist group - as one of its chief aims was to establish a white ethno-state. One of the advantages of proscription is being able to prosecute individuals found to be members of it or to invite support for the group. An update to the Terrorism and Sentencing Act 2021 ensures that anyone found guilty of being a member of a terrorist group, or inviting support to it, could find themselves facing up to 14 years in prison.
While this is an important step in the measures taken by the government, attention must be drawn to the fact that the proscription of a group is limited in its use. The Base does not have a monopoly on seeking to establish a white ethno-state. Individuals that share this aim, or those sympathetic to it, can seek to do the same, while operating under the criminal threshold and thereby avoiding proscription. Colin Bloom makes this exact point in the opening of the review where he states: “For the avoidance of doubt, it is no longer an offence under UK law to advocate for the creation of a new state, or for changes in an existing state (which may have been seen as an offence against the government or the crown in the historic past).”
This is a circular conundrum, where the rule of law is not breached, but advocating for the end of democracy via extremist influences, poses a unique issue that still requires a solution. While democracy empowers individuals to make choices, sometimes these choices could be detrimental to the very fabric of western societies. Extremist Islamists and white supremacists recognise this and work within the framework of democracy and law, but resist breaching boundaries that could mean they are prosecuted. This is particularly evident when it comes to Islamist participationists who use the tools of democracy to end democracy or make societies Muslim focused and Islam friendly.
The Bloom Review highlights important points that require a great deal of attention, but it does not inform the public of anything new per se. It has long been established that Islamist extremism has been the dominant threat for at least the past two decades, with far-Right extremism straggling behind. Engaging with faith groups could help limit the influence of religious inspired extremism, but it does not necessarily play a role in extremism that has no religious character.
The key takeaway for the government in improving its religious literacy with groups that seek to limit religious inspired extremism, is to ensure that such groups are not guilty of inspiring extremism themselves. Only last year, following the William Shawcross Review of Prevent, one strand of the U.K. government’s counter-terrorism strategy to prevent individuals from becoming radicalised, found that Islamist groups were funded by the taxpayer. This oversight has weakened the government’s ability to effectively counter extremist groups and highlights a blind spot in due diligence, rather than the government’s religious literacy.