Apparently, asking for council meetings in England to be conducted in English is now considered dangerously controversial. Welcome to modern Britain, where stating the obvious increasingly requires an apology tour.<\/p>\n
Fresh from the local elections, Birmingham City Council\u2019s new Reform UK councillors managed to trigger outrage after suggesting that official council proceedings should be held in a language residents can actually understand.<\/p>\n
The row began during Birmingham\u2019s annual mayor-making ceremony, after an imam delivered a 30-second Qur\u2019an reading in Arabic before providing an English translation to those present. Reform councillors later wrote to the city\u2019s newly appointed Lord Mayor, Zaker Choudhry, stating that: “Birmingham\u00a0was a ‘diverse city made up of many different faiths and backgrounds’ but ‘official council meetings should remain inclusive and accessible to all residents regardless of religion or culture’ – and all readings and proceedings should be in English.<\/p>\n
Exodus 20:3-5 Thou shalt have no other gods before me…Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth…Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.<\/b><\/p>\n