I don't think it would make a difference. The "system" in the UK knows that the Catholic bishops have very little actual power (politically speaking) and, and if the Catholic faithful only get tepid support from the bishops then the government has little to fear. The Catholics will "cope and seethe" as the kids say and the government wil…
I don't think it would make a difference. The "system" in the UK knows that the Catholic bishops have very little actual power (politically speaking) and, and if the Catholic faithful only get tepid support from the bishops then the government has little to fear. The Catholics will "cope and seethe" as the kids say and the government will get its way.
On the other hand, Muslims aren't guaranteed to just sit down and take it, so they're shown a certain deference. Part of it's also that they're not Christians, which automatically wins them some deference too. (NB: I am not saying that the threat of violence is a good thing. Muslims also live under a lot of surveillance and deal with their communities being infiltrated by government informants as a result of the threat of violence. I don't want that to be the reality for Catholics if it can be avoided (the FBI apparently was interested in making that our reality, so it may happen either way.)
I don't think it would make a difference. The "system" in the UK knows that the Catholic bishops have very little actual power (politically speaking) and, and if the Catholic faithful only get tepid support from the bishops then the government has little to fear. The Catholics will "cope and seethe" as the kids say and the government will get its way.
On the other hand, Muslims aren't guaranteed to just sit down and take it, so they're shown a certain deference. Part of it's also that they're not Christians, which automatically wins them some deference too. (NB: I am not saying that the threat of violence is a good thing. Muslims also live under a lot of surveillance and deal with their communities being infiltrated by government informants as a result of the threat of violence. I don't want that to be the reality for Catholics if it can be avoided (the FBI apparently was interested in making that our reality, so it may happen either way.)