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Objectives: To examine the role of religion in the patterning of health inequities, and how this is related to ethnicity and socioeconomic status., Design: Multivariate analyses using nationally representative data on self-assessed fair or poor health, longstanding limiting illness, diagnosed diabetes, diagnosed hypertension, waist-hip ratio, body mass index, current tobacco use and participating in no regular physical activity from 14,924 Christians, 4337 Muslims, 656 Sikhs, 1197 Hindus and 2682 people reporting not identifying with any religion with different ethnic backgrounds, who were interviewed as part of the Health Survey for England in either 1999 or 2004, adjusted for age, gender and socioeconomic status and periodicity., Results: Odds ratios for general health, hypertension, diabetes, waist-hip ratio, tobacco use and physical activity speak to the importance of ethnicity in the patterning of health inequalities. But there is also evidence of an important, independent role for religion, with risks for the different health indicators varying between people with the same ethnic, but different religious, identifications. Adjusting for socioeconomic status attenuated the ethnic/religious patterning of, particularly, self-assessed health, longstanding activity-limiting illness, waist-hip ratio, body mass index and tobacco use., Conclusions: This evidence enables greater understanding of the complexities of the relationship between ethnicity, religion and health, recognising the need to understand the heterogeneity underlying both ethnic and religious group membership and the processes producing the structural disadvantage facing certain religious and ethnic groups in the mediation of the relationship between health and ethnicity/religion.

Negative rhetoric and policy regarding Muslims has been justified according to a perceived lack of integration into British society. However, this lack of integration has not been empirically established and remains poorly described. This paper explores whether there are variations in levels of 'Britishness' and perceptions of the compatibility between Britishness and other cultural/religious identities among different minoritized groups in England and Wales. It examines the impact of racialization and other forms of social and economic exclusion on ideas of Britishness, focusing on similarities and differences in a sense of access to forms of Britishness among migrant groups. Descriptive and multivariate analyses of Citizenship Survey data showed that 90 per cent of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians felt part of Britain. Muslims were more likely than Caribbean Christians to report a strong British identification and (along with Hindus and Sikhs) to recognize potential compatibility between this and other aspects of national identity. The strength of this feeling was associated with age, gender, generation and, importantly, risk of racist victimization. Greater recognition must be given to the impact of social exclusion on the ability of ethnic and religious minority groups to feel part of British society, and also to the strong claim to Britishness made by Muslim people in England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of victimization in the generation of ethnic inequalities is increasingly acknowledged yet its impact on the lives of people with different religious affiliations remains underexplored. This is despite evidence of the importance of religion for forms of group identification and social mobilization. An exploration of the particular impact of religion as a focus for experiences of victimization may be particularly pertinent given the increasingly negative treatment of Muslim people since the riots in Britain of 2001, the terrorist incidents of 2001, 2004 and 2005 and the political and military responses to them. Cross-sectional analyses of data collected in 2000 and 2008/2009 explore whether there is evidence that the ethnic/religious patterning of reports of different forms of victimization have varied over time, after adjusting for the impact of age, gender, migration and socioeconomic differences between the groups. In 2000 Muslim people with different ethnic backgrounds were less likely, but by 2008/2009 were more likely, to report experiences of victimization than Caribbean Christians. However, the ethnic/religious patterning of perceptions of Britain as a ‘racist society’ were more consistent over time. This may suggest that, despite their increased exposure to victimization over the period, Muslim people in the United Kingdom have yet to experience the racialization characteristic of the treatment of Caribbean Christians, which requires a more prolonged exposure to racist negative attitudes. But this may be only a matter of time. The persistent expectation of poor treatment described by Caribbean Christians is testament to the difficulties of addressing these negative perceptions once racialized identities are embedded. Immediate action must be taken to prevent this occurring among other ethnic/religious minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Muslims in Europe are increasingly constructed as problematic and insular. This article examines whether this construction may be justified and the impact this has had on the attitudes of Muslims living in different countries in Europe. Over 70 percent of Bangladeshi, Turkish and Moroccan Muslims living in Britain, Germany and Spain, respectively, felt ‘at home’ in their country of residence. This sense of being at home, and whether the events of 11 September 2001 or 11 March 2004 affected this was associated with citizenship of or birth in Europe, experiences of victimization and perceived local social support. Citizenship, experiences of discrimination and strength of religious identities were associated with reporting British, German or Spanish identities. Rather than providing evidence of self-segregation, these findings emphasize the impact of the political and social marginalization faced by Muslim groups in Europe, which significantly affects their ability to feel themselves at home there. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]