No-go areas for Christians in Britain?

Michael Nazir-Ali is the much respected Bishop of Rochester. Supposed to have been one of those under consideration for the Archbishopric of Canterbury in 2002, he is known as a good Diocesan Bishop and an intelligent theologian, critically conservative in his position. Having been born in Pakistan of a Christian family, and having served as Director of the Church Mission Society, he has a unique and personal insight into mission in an Asian culture and to the difficulties of Christian minorities in some Moslem countries, for whom he has been an effective advocate. He is thus uniquely placed amongst the Bishops of our Church to speak about the experience of Christians as a minority in a hostile society.

At the end of last year Bishop Nazir-Ali wrote an article in one of the Sunday “broadsheet” news-papers. In this he wrote that there were effective “no-go-areas” in some British cities where Christians increasingly felt beleaguered, where there was anecdotal evidence of some feeling threatened, especially if they tried to share their faith, and where he felt, that “Christian” Britain was being undermined. He argued that the radicalisation of Islam in recent years has been dangerous for Christians in these areas. His words were taken by many as a justified cry of alarm, but were also (and this was not his intention) welcomed, taken up and used by the advocates of the extreme right to support their race-based agendas.

The response of many Christian leaders, well placed to comment on the ministry of the Church in places such as Birmingham, Blackburn, Oldham, Leicester or Bradford, has, significantly, been muted and ambivalent. Whilst there has been, undeniably, a sharper edge to the practice of Islam, and a degree of radicalisation, especially amongst the young, and whilst there is anecdotal evidence of individual Christians facing hostility from individual Moslems, the majority of those who have spoken to the Church and national press in response to the Bishop’s comments, have said that they do not recognise the scenario he describes. Church leaders have spoken of shared community projects, of co-operation with leaders in the Moslem community and in the Mosques, and of the way in which the ministry of Church schools, especially in the Diocese of Manchester, is appreciated in promoting a genuine experience of different cultures. Significantly, this has been more rather than less the case, since the events of “9/11”and the awareness of the rise of radical Islam amongst some (but by no means all) sections of Moslem society in this country.

Indeed, they also argue that where parallel communities exist and where there seems to be increasing separation, the causes for this are as much from social as religious factors. The Bishop of Burnley in Blackburn Diocese has said that though there are areas of separation there are nevertheless “superb stories” to be told of work across the boundaries both by Christians and Moslems. Christian leaders who know their communities also point out that in the rhetoric of the last few years, and in the response to the atrocities committed by the few, the many moderates in the Moslem community have sensed increasing hostility and suspicion from the media and from individuals. (This is not of course to say that there is nothing which the moderates can do to relieve this themselves by distancing themselves from the anger of the extremists.)

It does seem that the Bishop’s genuine concerns have been painted in a way which is unhelpfully black and white (and we need to recognise the power and the limitations of a newspaper article). Discerning the truth is rarely as straightforward as this, and we who follow a Lord who is called the Truth, need to keep this in mind, lest we fail to engage properly with what is actually going on. We have on the Church Council noted with concern the inability of one or two Christian charities, in the midst of their vital work in supporting the suffering church, to recognise that there are more moderate and liberal aspects of Islam. We need to recognise those elements in Islam in our own land and find common ground for reconciliation and transforming of our society.

In this community the presence of those of other faiths, including Islam, is very tiny indeed and we do not often have first hand experience to draw on in making our response. However, many found the gathering at the Methodist Church Hall last year, at which there was a moderate Moslem speaker, illuminating, and an important qualification to the opinions that come at us from some sections of the media. Indeed, as Bishop Kenneth Cragg (who ministered for many years in Egypt) has said, you cannot hope to speak of your faith in Christ to a Moslem unless you have understood and felt for yourself what it is that makes him a Moslem. There are many and compelling reasons for learning and listening and testing what we hear and read, rather than moving too swiftly to draw conclusions. The imperatives to seek the welfare of our communities, to welcome the stranger and to proclaim the Gospel surely demand it. The Bishop has simply begun a debate – a commitment to Truth demands that we continue it properly.

Roger Clarke

February 2008