ABSTRACT
This chapter begins from a conversation I had concerning the role of religion among university students. For a number of reasons interest has grown in recent years about the role of religion in the lives of students, but also in the place of religion in the wider management of the university itself. This is partly a response to questions of equality and diversity, where religion and belief are now protected characteristics alongside gender, disability, sexuality and so on as enshrined in legislation (Weller, Hooley and Moore 2011). It is also a response to the continued insistence from government that universities take the possible threat of Islamic radicalization on campus seriously and the ‘good campus relations’ agenda that follows from that. I am currently responsible for the delivery of the Equality and Diversity agenda at Birmingham University and so have a direct interest in the debates that come from that angle. I have also been closely involved with a HEFCE 1 -funded project to develop religious literacy among university leaders across the sector that aims to put the second issue into a wider perspective and to show how taking religion seriously, not just Islam but all religions, can help to improve the experience of students and staff, and to establish a better working relationship within universities and perhaps even a more just institution (Dinham and Jones 2010).
