“The bombings (or attempts) of 7 and 21 July seem to have thrown commentators and politicians back yet again to endless ponderings on what it means to be British. Into this steaming pot are thrown various statements about religion, culture, nationhood and patriotism. And since these particular terrorists happen to be Muslims, at first glance it would seem completely appropriate to examine the Koran for any possible link to what happened.

“But there are problems with this. We can quite reasonably ask the question of why Islam should be probed for its links to terrorism, when Christianity isn’t probed for its links to IRA bombings and Judaism isn’t probed for its links to the Zionist terror of 1946-48 in Palestine? It rather looks as if something selective is going on here.”

Michael Rosen in Socialist Worker, 20 August 2005