Immigration Rules And English Language Fluency For Ministers Of Religion

EDM number 458 in 2004-05, proposed by Sarah Teather on 10/01/2005.

That this House notes with concern the implications for Hindu temples of the new Home Office immigration rules affecting minister of religion, effective from 31st August 2004, which require all such ministers to demonstrate fluency in the English language to level 4; notes that this hampers the recruitment of Poojaries in particular, whose roles are highly specialised and who are trained in India; further notes that the role of a Poojari is to perform the daily rites for the Hindu gods in the temple and Arti, which involve caring for the gods on a daily basis with prayers and meditation; further notes that these daily rites are central to the Hindu religion; further notes that the role of a Poojari does not involve preaching to the congregation and that this role is generally performed by Swarmis, Sadhus or Hindu preachers, who have knowledge of English; further notes that the Poojari's job requires knowledge of Hindu texts written in Sanskrit and knowledge of Gujarati and Hindi for sung worship, but not English; regrets that the Home Office would appear to have introduced regulations based on a Judaeo-Christian model of worship without considering the implications for other faiths; and calls upon the Home Office to amend its regulations to provide an exception to Poojaries because they do not preach.

This motion has been signed by a total of 48 MPs.