L AST week, reader David Whittern said that if a new mosque is to be built in Barton Hill, Christians in Islamic countries across the world whose churches have been burnt down should have them rebuilt. Our letter of the week is from Dave Weltman, who gives this view on the subject.

David Whittern's letter in last week's Evening Post ('Mosque for Church', 4/5/10) needs be challenged on all levels.

He seems to be suggesting a grand conflict between what he calls 'We as a people and country', or 'Christians' – whom apparently Mr Whittern deigns to speak for ('We...are all for oppressed minorities') – and 'Muslims', or 'Muslim countries'. This is the predictable 'clash of civilisations' nonsense which is the height of fashion in the current atmosphere of the fast-growing 'respectable' racism of Islamaphobia.

In addition to forgetting the deep historical intertwining and co-shaping of Western European societies and the great Muslim communities and empires, this picture erases the massive variety making up Muslims communities around the world today, culturally, politically, and in terms of individuals' economic position. Instead, we are asked to believe, it is some common abstract religious essence, seen as transcending actual social and individual situations, which is supposed to determine millions of people's way of life. In the same way, the huge diversity of aims, agendas and tactics of the numerous types of political Islam (from the most conservative mainstream, to anti-imperialist, to civic activism) are reduced to a single self-propagating 'evil ideology'. But the key remarkable thing about the current period of economic crisis is how much the interests of millions of ordinary Muslims and non-Muslims in this country merge into one. All the main UK political parties are planning – through massive cuts in jobs, pay, pensions and vital public services – to make working people pay for the bail-out of the economic 'elite' who created the crisis in the first place.

There is no such thing as a nice harmonious national 'We' here. For those who are getting ready to force through those cuts, Islamaphobia is a dream come true as a means of deflecting popular anger. We must not let the racists divide us. Black and white, Muslim and non-Muslim, must unite and fight the real culprits. No to bully-boy scapegoating!

Dave Weltman, Easton.