Assess the view that, for minority ethnic groups, the practice of religion and membership of religious groups in mainly a form of cultural defence. (33 marks)

A question on religion is very hard to answer as religion and how religious ethnic groups are is difficult to measure. For example, when investigating as to whether someone is religious or not we may use a questionnaire that involves questions like, "How often does someone visit a sacred place?” This question can be criticised because a child may go to church every week but only because their parents make them, this doesn't mean that they are religious. Equally a person may not be able to attend for practical reasons but they would still consider themselves religious. Religiosity is not like height, where we have set measurements. It is subjective and not easily operationalised. Ethnicity describes ancestry, heritage, religion, nationality and language. Ethnic groups are sub groups that share cultural characteristics and individuals can decide as to whether they like those characteristics and want to join their group or not. An ethnic minority groups is one which is different from the majority population and whose cultural identity and beliefs differ from the main set of religious practices. Cultural defence is where religion serves to unite communities against external threats. In these situations religion is significant, the reason for this is that religion symbolises groups of collective identity defending communities against threats. This is a highly debated topic of which I will be showing both sides of the argument.
According to the 2011 census the ethnic composition of the UK was 85.67% White British and 14.33% ethnic minorities. This data showed that Britain is ethnically diverse. There is a wider range of other ethnic minority groups, more than was identified in the 2001 census (87.2% White British