'Islam is not compatible with British values and Sadiq Khan's diversity crusade will fail' - Alex O'Connor

'Islam is not compatible with British values and Sadiq Khan's diversity crusade will fail' - Alex O'Connor

Steve Edginton sits down with Alex O'Connor for GB News

GB News
Steven Edginton

By Steven Edginton


Published: 14/05/2024

- 14:22

Updated: 15/05/2024

- 13:55

History shows Sadiq Khan's diversity crusade is doomed to fail and diversity is not always a strength according to a top atheist thinker

Sadiq Khan’s multiculturalism agenda clashes with the experience of humans throughout history, a prominent atheist thinker has told GB News.

Alex O’Connor, an online theologian and commentator, told GB News that multiculturalism “isn’t going very well” and criticised the London mayor’s promotion of the concept.


He said: “I think people also have forgotten how experimental and how recent [multiculturalism] is.”

“For example, you end up with these slogans that are said; diversity is our strength, this kind of stuff. I mean, you land at Heathrow Airport and you might see it on a poster on the wall and you think, ‘I wonder why I have to be reminded of that so much if it's so true’.”

Sadiq KhanSadiq Khan has faced criticism over London knife crimePA

The atheist YouTuber continued: “And I also think about the fact that every society for the history of mankind has not just thought that it's a good idea, but absolutely necessary for the survival of a nation and the community to be unified.”

“Unity is our strength, come together with a common aim, a common goal, sometimes against a common enemy. And that's what brings us together.”

The atheist YouTuber continued: “And I also think about the fact that every society for the history of mankind has not just thought that it's a good idea, but absolutely necessary for the survival of a nation and the community to be unified.”

“Unity is our strength, come together with a common aim, a common goal, sometimes against a common enemy. And that's what brings us together.”

Alex O'Connor

Alex O'Connor speaking on the impact of Sadiq Khan in London

GB News

“And it's like, no, despite that being a trivial truth for the history of humanity, Sadiq Khan has worked it out and actually they are wrong.

"And the thing that we should be actually doing is encouraging people to live parallel lives, eating different foods, speaking different religions [sic], attending different religious worship sessions.”

“I don't know, I don't buy it. I don't think that's a good idea.”

Inside the Islamic Centre of England, in Maida Vale in LondonInside the Islamic Centre of England, in Maida Vale in London PA

Earlier this month Sadiq Khan won re-election as London mayor, beating the Conservative candidate Susan Hall.

Khan is known for promoting diversity as a strength and promoting London as a multicultural city.

Earlier this month Sadiq Khan won re-election as London mayor, beating the Conservative candidate Susan Hall.

Khan is known for promoting diversity as a strength and promoting London as a multicultural city.

The mayor said in 2021 that “London’s diversity is its greatest strength but for far too long our capital’s statues, street names and buildings have only shown a limited perspective on our city’s complex history”.

He recently renamed several overground train lines to celebrate multiculturalism, including by labelling one line the “Windrush line” after a ship that carried a group of immigrants to Britain in 1947.

In 2020 Khan created a Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm, which according to the mayor’s website “is committed to improving the representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, women, LGBTQ+ communities and disabled people in the public realm”.

The mayor has also used London fireworks displays on new years eve consistently to promote his brand of politics, including support for Black Lives Matter and diversity.

O’Connor also told GB News that “Islam makes sacred a number of things which traditional British values are anathema to, freedom of speech, blasphemy laws, for example.”

The British YouTuber continued: “It can't be satisfied. And that's why you see this strange friction between people who liberally mindedly want to respect a religious minority, that is, Muslims in the United Kingdom, but at the same time want to be pro-free speech.”

“When somebody gets threatened for showing a picture of the Prophet Muhammad, they've got their hands tied a little bit. They don't really know what to do. These frictions are inevitably going to arise in a multicultural society.”

“These are just defining characteristics of a multicultural society. And unless there are some forms of disagreement about aesthetics, values, culture, unless there's some actual disagreement that cannot be reconciled, you just don't have multiculturalism anymore.”

“You would just have a sort of singular culture with different ideas and different shades. Let's call it multiculturalism, parallel existing cultures, you need to say that there are things that they actually disagree about,” he said.

However, O’Connor stressed that multiculturalism isn’t necessarily fundamentally flawed, saying: “Because to say it's fundamentally flawed means that every single time you run the experiment, it would fail, but I mean, it seems like people are very rapidly losing faith in it”.

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