Muslims have created “no go” areas across the United Kingdom where it is dangerous for non-Muslims to enter, according to a Church of England bishop.

Michael Nazir-Ali, the bishop of Rochester, caused a storm of controversy when he warned recently about the increasing divide between Muslims and the rest of the population. His comments were vigorously denied by politicians throughout the political spectrum. The Muslim Council of Britain described them as “frantic scaremongering.” Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg called them “a gross caricature of reality.” William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, was less dogmatic when he said that Nazir-Ali had “probably put it too strongly.”

The comments by the government’s race relations chief, however, were quite different. “[T]here is a phenomenon we have to deal with and I think that the bishop of Rochester was right to raise this,” said Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

“Nobody is putting up walls and gates but we all know that in virtually every big city there are places where different kinds of people feel uncomfortable, whether that is Asians in so-called white areas or white people in so-called black areas,” said Philips in an interview with bbc Radio 4’s Today program.

Philips also drew attention to the broader problem of racial division in the nation, pointing to studies by Bristol University showing that pupils are becoming more segregated by where they chose to sit. He also pointed to a problem he termed “white flight.”

White flight is a term coined in the United States in the 1960s to describe the creation of inner-city ghettos. According to the Telegraph,

The movement has been especially notable in London, which has always seen a big turnover of population, and is now witnessing unprecedented movement.Last year, nearly 245,000 people left inner boroughs for the suburbs, rural areas or new lives abroad.The movement has a bigger impact in northern cities where communities already live “parallel lives.”As a consequence they become “shut off” and vulnerable to political and religious extremism.Research by Migrationwatch suggests movement within Britain is mainly from areas of high ethnic minority population to those with predominantly white populations.

Racial and religious issues are a growing problem in the UK. This segregation adds fuel to already smoldering emotions on both sides of the racial-religious divide. The ideals of multiculturalism have failed. The British are slowly waking up to a great sickness that has infected their country. For more information on where this disease is leading, read “The Sickness in Britain’s Heart.”