By George Pitcher and Jonathan Wynne-Jones
It is "common sense" for Christianity to be sidelined at the expense of Islam, a Government minister claimed on Sunday.
Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, defended Labour’s policy on religion after a report backed by the Church of England claimed that Muslims receive a disproportionate amount of attention.
She said it was right that more money and effort was spent on Islam than Christianity because of the threat from extremism and home-grown terrorism.
Ms Blears told BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme: “That’s just common sense. If we’ve got an issue where we have to build resilience of young Muslim men and women to withstand an extremist message.”
She added: “We live in a secular democracy. That’s a precious thing. We don’t live in a theocracy, but we’ve always accepted that hundreds of thousands of people are motivated by faith. We live in a secular democracy but we want to recognise the role of faith.”
The Church of England bishop responsible for the report, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, Bishop for Urban Life and Faith, said afterwards: “She said we live in a secular democracy. That comes as news to me – we have an ...   more »

GLOBAL INSECURITY
UNICEF works with terror-linked Islamics on children's rights
The United Nations Children's Fund has announced an agreement with an organization linked by the U.S. government to al-Qaida and the Taliban to work to improve services to children in Saudi Arabia.The announcement from UNICEF this week confirmed a new memorandum of understanding with the International Islamic Relief Organization "to strengthen cooperation and support for children's rights, health, equality and protection in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries."
The U.S. Treasury Department, however, identifies the IIRO as a group with one leader who "provided donor funds directly to al-Qaida and is identified as a major fundraiser for the Abu Sayyaf (ASG) and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) (terror organizations)."
A leader, Adb Al Hamid Sulaimian Al-Mujil, often directs funds be transferred to the IIRO organizations blamed by the government for terrorism, including training al-Qaida operatives, in the Philippines and Indonesia, the report said.
"The partnership with IIROSA is in-line with UNICEF's policy that encourages the exchange of expertise and experiences regionally and internationally; and to collaborate and join forces as part of the Millennium Development Goals," said Ayman Abu Laban, who is the UNICEF representative for the region.
"Building partnerships ...   more »