Faith and spirituality

This timely book explores the role played by faith-based organisations (FBOs), which are growing in importance in the provision of social services in the European context.

"Faith in the public realm" takes an explicitly multi-faith perspective, exploring the controversies, policies and practices of 'public faith'. It questions perceptions of a fixed divide between religious and secular participants in public life and challenges prevailing concepts of a monolithic 'neutral' public realm.

This book is the first specifically to explore methodological issues relating to the involvement of refugees in both service evaluation and development and research. It builds on a two-year seminar series funded by the ESRC where the participants jointly drew up a set of good practice guidelines that are re-produced in the book for the first time.

In 2014 the ‘Trojan Horse’ affair, an alleged plot to ‘Islamify’ several state schools in Birmingham, caused a previously highly successful school to be vilified. Holmwood and O’Toole challenge the accepted narrative and show how it was used to justify an intrusive counter extremism agenda.

Gary Craig and his contributors blend theory and practice-based case studies to review how different community development approaches can empower minority ethnic communities to confront racism and overcome social, economic and political disadvantage.

This highly topical book aims to undermine unsubstantiated myths by examining Muslim integration in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, states which dominate the debate on minority integration and the practice of Muslim religious traditions.