Leading Anglican Bishop: British Churches Have 'Capitulated to Secularism' and Politically Correct Lessons that Whitewash Islam

TELEGRAPH BLOGS – DAMIAN THOMPSON: British schools are helping to boost Islamism with politically correct lessons that tell black pupils that slavery was entirely the fault of English and Americans, and omit the long and vicious history of Arab slave trading, according to an influential Church of England bishop.

In an exclusive interview for our Telegram podcast, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali – a Pakistani-born scholar who resigned as Bishop of Rochester in 2009 in order to train Christians facing persecution – says "the Churches have generally capitulated to secular culture and therefore cannot bring a distinctive voice to public debate".

They have neglected human relations, especially the family, in favour of "welfarism" that teaches that the state should provide all the goods that citizens need. All this adds up to the slow death of people's sense of themselves as spiritual beings – and this affects "even people who go to church".

Bishop Nazir-Ali, a theological conservative who opposes the ordination of actively gay clergy, is now president of Oxtrad, which "prepares Christians for ministry in situations where the Church is under pressure and in danger of persecution". He claims that, in addition to ignoring the current persecution of Christians in the Islamic world, secular Britain brushes aside historical evidence of Muslim aggression. » | Damian Thompson | Wednesday, May 29, 2013

My comment:

This is the man who should have been made the Archbishop of Canterbury. He'd have been the perfect choice. Alas, the prime minister had neither the foresight nor insight to select him. Was he, perhaps, afraid to do so?

The Church of England is so far down the road of political correctness that it believes that all faiths are of equal value; and in so doing, it undermines the reason for its own existence. It could be said that it has become a faith that apologises for itself. It has lost all self-confidence. Islam, by contrast, is a proud, confident, proselytizing 'faith.' It believes that the future belongs to Islam and Muslims. And the way things are going, it is probably true. – © Mark

This comment also appears here

There's No Pride in Bashing Gays, Bishop
THE TELEGRAPH: Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali's campaign against homosexuality worries George Pitcher.

If you're reading, Bishop Michael, I really didn't want to have another pop at you about your trenchant and sometimes bizarre views about what constitutes Christian truth. As to the rest of you reading this, I'm sorry if it looks as if whenever Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who retires as Bishop of Rochester in September, makes a public statement I launch an attack on him. Believe me, the routine is tiresome for me, too.

But his comments in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph, which he is expected to repeat today, that homosexuals should "repent and be changed" cannot pass unchallenged. Or rather, they should not go challenged only by homosexual rights campaigners, such as Peter Tatchell, who you would expect to be somewhat antipathetic to the expressed view.

Because Dr Nazir-Ali is wrong in the eyes of a broad swath of kind and tolerant people of differing sexualities, social mores and of the Christian faith, other faiths and no faith at all. Badly, badly wrong.

I say that I didn't want to have another fight with him because such fights polarise Anglicans, and we're at our best when we're talking. I went to a private lunch recently, to which Dr Nazir-Ali was also invited. He didn't show. The seat next to me went empty. I do hope he didn't bottle it; it's important that religious leaders don't just inhabit comfort zones with friends who share their views.

Dr Nazir-Ali's friends are the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Foca), who this week will try to get the Anglican schism over homosexuality going again, while denying that they are doing any such thing. Had he turned up to our lunch, I would have asked him why he and Foca are so convinced that they know the mind of God better than those who disagree with them and that their interpretation of scripture is with absolute certainty the one and only true one.

When I write about the Church and homosexuality, inevitably I receive messages that read simply "Romans 1:26-27" or "1 Corinthians 6:9", as if that settles something. We can argue scripture until we're at the pearly gates. But the essential difference between Dr Nazir-Ali and me is this: I accept, disappointing as I would find it in my fiery furnace, that he might be right. By contrast, he and his friends cannot accept that I might be right, claim that I can't be a proper Christian, and some of them go so far as to suggest that I'll burn in hell for all eternity.

And there's the real problem: it's an issue of intolerance. Anglicanism has long been characterised by a broad tolerance. But my tolerance of Dr Nazir-Ali and his friends, that they are Anglicans with whom I happen vehemently to disagree, doesn't seem to be reciprocated.

Dr Nazir-Ali is leaving his bishopric, it is said, to develop his ministry among persecuted Christians. That is admirable. Persecution of Christians is a very bad thing. But persecution of homosexuals is a pretty bad thing, too, as is persecution of any part of humanity, all of which he will agree is made in God's image. >>> George Pitcher | Monday, July 06, 2009

TELEGRAPH TV: Same-sex Marriage in Iowa

Aide to Archbishop of Canterbury Sacked for Slur on Gay Row Bishop
MAIL Online: An aide to the Archbishop of Canterbury has been sacked after writing an insult to a senior bishop into an official document.

The Lambeth Palace staff member made an offensive reference to the Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, who has been at odds with the Archbishop over the issue of homosexuality.

The document in the affair, a list of candidates for job vacancies, included a reference to 'the a***hole Bishop of Rochester'.

It was copied to all 43 of the Church of England's diocesan bishops and to Downing Street.

The rogue word was noticed only after the paper had been circulated.

A Church of England spokesman yesterday confirmed the Lambeth Palace aide responsible had been sacked.

He said: 'When this came to light there was an immediate investigation. The person responsible admitted to it and was summarily dismissed.'

The culprit is widely assumed to have been someone who sympathises with the Church of England's gay lobby. The Church has declined to name him or her. >>> By Steve Doughty | Monday, December 22, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

British Bishop Calls for Action over Iranian Apostasy Law
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE: The Bishop of Rochester has called on the Government to take action about a new law in Iran that would make the death penalty mandatory for apostasy.

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali said in the House of Lords that many asylum seekers arrive in the UK because of religious persecution.



He asked: “What diplomatic efforts are Her Majesty’s Government making regarding the passing of the law on apostasy by the Iranian majlis, which makes the death penalty mandatory for apostasy and which will undoubtedly cause many more people to flee that country?”



Home office minister Lord West of Spithead said he was not sure “what exactly is going on about approaching Iran on that point”.



But he added: “We are not particularly happy about a number of things in Iran.” [Source: Religious Intelligence] By Adrian Hall | November 3, 2008

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Sharia Law Challenges British Justice
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Earlier this year I had to warn people about the various siren voices advocating the recognition of Islamic Sharia in the public law of this country.

It seems now that this was no theoretical advocacy, and that Sharia courts are not only operating here but claim to have the sanction of the County and High Courts in the enforcement of their decisions.

As no one, to my knowledge, has denied this claim, we must assume it is true.

The basis on which these courts operate seems to be a clause in the Arbitration Act 1996 which makes binding the decision of an arbitration tribunal if both parties agree to submit their dispute to it.

It is worth asking immediately whether there is any supervision of any such tribunals, any training for those who sit on them, and any limits to their powers. If not, why is there not and will there be?

In the case of Sharia courts, we must ask whether each party is, indeed, submitting the dispute for resolution voluntarily.
This is particularly the case where women are concerned.

Both in terms of submission to a tribunal and in accepting its decisions, are women genuinely free, or is it possible that there are elements of coercion?

As to the relationship of these tribunals to public law, it should be clear, surely, that no matter what we may have agreed to do in the past, every citizen has the right to have recourse to the courts to secure their fundamental freedoms and rights. It is then for these courts to decide how such freedoms and rights are to be upheld.

It is most important for personal liberty and social order that this duty is not negotiated away in the cause of misplaced concern for community relations or communal harmony.

We must also be clear that the courts, in this country, cannot uphold what is contrary to public law. That is to say, decisions of any quasi-legal bodies must accord with the law of the land and remedy for any decisions not in such accordance must lie in the courts.

It is of some concern, therefore, that decisions are being made in the so-called Sharia courts which appear to be contrary to public law. Sharia Law Challenges British Justice >>> By Michael Nazir-Ali | September 21, 2008

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Peter Hitchens Tells It Like It Is
Why is it that nobody in our own elite actually likes or understands this country or its people or its traditions?

Why did we have to wait for Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, born and raised in Muslim Pakistan, to remind us that, as he put it, ‘the beliefs, values and virtues of Great Britain have been formed by the Christian faith’?

Just as important, why did we have to wait for him to urge us to do something about restoring that faith before we either sink into a yelling chaos of knives, fists and boots, or swoon into the strong, implacable arms of Islam?

Most of our homegrown prelates are more interested in homosexuality or in spreading doubt about the gospel or urging the adoption of Sharia law. Why Does It Take Bishop Nazir-Ali to Tell Us How It Really Is? >>> | May 31, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Peter Hitchens Tells It Like It Is
Why is it that nobody in our own elite actually likes or understands this country or its people or its traditions?

Why did we have to wait for Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, born and raised in Muslim Pakistan, to remind us that, as he put it, ‘the beliefs, values and virtues of Great Britain have been formed by the Christian faith’?

Just as important, why did we have to wait for him to urge us to do something about restoring that faith before we either sink into a yelling chaos of knives, fists and boots, or swoon into the strong, implacable arms of Islam?

Most of our homegrown prelates are more interested in homosexuality or in spreading doubt about the gospel or urging the adoption of Sharia law. Why Does It Take Bishop Nazir-Ali to Tell Us How It Really Is? >>> | May 31, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

A Schism over Shari'a in the Church of England
MIDDLE EAST FORUM: The debate over the trajectory of the Western sociopolitical system and its strained relations with Islam is the most pivotal of our time, as approaches decided upon today will impact billions not yet born. Two prelates in the ever more fractious Church of England provide a microcosm of this discourse.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali have emerged as central combatants in the dispute between two fundamentally opposed models of social organization: multiculturalism and universalism. The former bestows equal standing upon different cultures in the public square. The latter bestows equal standing upon individuals who wield a common set of rights and responsibilities. Which system prevails will ultimately determine the level of danger that homegrown Islamists pose to Britain, Europe, and the broader West.

Nazir-Ali believes that Britain's campaign to reconstitute itself as a multicultural society has failed, and he explained why in a January 6 op-ed. By emphasizing differences over common values, his country has promoted alienation among Muslims, many of whom are "living as separate communities, continuing to communicate in their own languages, and having minimum need for building healthy relationships with the majority." Since segregation breeds extremism, Islamist-dominated "no-go areas" now dot the map. A Schism over Shari'a in the Church of England >>> By David J Rusin, American Thinker | May 11, 2008

Hat tip: Always On Watch

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

The Deafening Silence that Betrays Our Values
THE TELEGRAPH: Four weeks ago, the Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, expressed on these pages his concern at the lack of integration into British society of some Muslim communities living here. He has since received an enormous amount of support from private individuals for his remarks - as well as death threats from fanatics who said they would kill him unless he stopped criticising the religion of Islam (something which he insisted he was not doing).

The most striking aspect of the response to his article, however, has not been that bigoted and offensive reaction from a small number: it has been the almost complete silence from the Government on the issues he raised. Despite recent claims by ministers that they want to revise the policy of multiculturalism, and that they wish for a vigorous national debate on what should replace it, their reaction to this - and indeed to all other attempts to generate debate - has been deafening silence. You could be forgiven for thinking there is a conspiracy to prevent discussion of the issues that the bishop, and millions of other Britons, are so concerned about.

The official reluctance to confront those issues acts far more effectively than death threats to suppress their discussion. Yet questions of immigration and integration are amongst the most critically important faced by Britain. As we report today, thousands of women in Britain are being beaten, bullied, intimidated and indeed sometimes murdered by members of their own families - and it is being done in the name of their religion and of "traditional values". An investigation by the Centre for Social Cohesion has established that whole communities have been involved in suppressing their female members' wholly legitimate desire to marry whom they choose, to follow careers of their own, and to dress and live according to their own will, rather than at the command of a male relative. A deafening silence that betrays our values >>>

Hat tip: Jim Ball

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, Faces Death Threats
At least one Church of England prelate is willing to tell the truth about the dangers of the growth of Islam in the United Kingdom. When will the Archbishop of Canterbury come to terms with reality?

Our problems with Islam are growing apace. They can be likened to a snowball rolling down a snowy hill, gathering mass and speed as it goes.

Only because of weak and cowardly leadership is the free world allowing this to happen. - ©Mark

TIMESONLINE: The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, is under police protection after he and his family received death threats over his claim that parts of Britain had become “no-go areas” for non-Muslims.

The Bishop is also facing anger from the most senior members of the Church of England hierarchy for his comments on Islam.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has made Islam a priority of his archiepiscopate and set up a Muslim-Christian forum to promote relations between the faiths in 2006. One senior cleric told The Times yesterday: “The Bishop of Rochester is in effect threatening to undo everything we have done.”

The cleric said that some congregations in cities such as Leicester, where interfaith work was a priority, were increasingly wary of donating money towards this work. Church leaders in towns with a large Muslim population were anxious that relations with their neighbours were being undermined.

Dr Nazir-Ali was in India when staff at his home in Rochester took a number of phone calls threatening his family and warning him that he would not “live long” if he continued to criticise Islam. He has been given an emergency number at Kent Police, along with other undisclosed protection measures, and said that the threats were being taken “seriously”.

Speaking to The Times, Dr Nazir-Ali, who is on the conservative evangelical wing of the Church and is Britain’s only Asian bishop, said: “The irony is that I had similar threats when I was a bishop in Pakistan, but I never thought I would have them here. My point in saying what I did was that Britain had lost its Christian vision, which would have provided the resources to offer hospitality to others.” Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, faces death threats >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Muslim Britain is Becoming One Big No-Go Area
”It [segregation] raises a compelling point that Labour, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats have largely tried to ignore: while the moral ambiguity of multiculturalism means Britain no longer knows what it stands for, our enemies are not just growing ever surer of themselves but are also winning the debate.” - Shiraz Maher
THE SUNDAY TIMES: A bishop caused uproar last week by exposing ghettos of Islamist extremism. But Muslims everywhere are cutting themselves off from society in other, equally dangerous ways

Perhaps it had to be someone like Michael Nazir-Ali, the first Asian bishop in the Church of England, who would break with convention and finally point out the elephant in the room.

His comments last week about the growing stranglehold of Muslim extremists in some communities revived debate about the future of multiculturalism and provoked a flurry of condemnation. Members of all three political parties immediately clamoured to dismiss him. “I don’t recognise the description that he’s talked about – no-go areas and people feeling intimidated,” said Hazel Blears, the communities secretary.

A quick call to her Labour colleague John Reid, the former home secretary, would almost certainly have helped her to identify at least one of those places. Just over a year ago Reid was heckled by the Muslim extremist Abu Izzadeen in Leytonstone, east London, during a speech on extremism, appropriately. “How dare you come to a Muslim area,” Izzadeen screamed.

That picture is mirrored outside London. One of our country’s biggest and most deprived Muslim areas is Small Heath, in Birmingham, where Dr Tahir Abbas, director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Culture, was raised. With a dominant Asian monoculture, low social achievement and high unemployment, Small Heath is precisely the kind of insular and disengaged urban ghetto Nazir-Ali was talking about.

Reflecting on his experiences there, Abbas is critical of his peers who don’t stray beyond their area. “They haven’t seen rural Devon, a stately home or Windsor Castle,” he says. That refusal to engage with anything beyond the community is suffocating young Muslims by divorcing them almost entirely from Britain’s cultural heritage and mainstream life.

And their feelings of separation have been further reinforced by the advent of digital broadcasting, which has swelled the number of foreign language television stations in Britain, creating digital ghettos. Islamist movements such as Hizb ut-Tahrir (of which I was once a senior member) have been quick to spot the opportunities this affords them. In 2004 the group launched a campaign aimed at undermining President Pervez Musharraf by broadcasting adverts on Asian satellite channels, calling on the Pakistani community in Britain to “stop Busharraf”.

Manzoor Moghal, chairman of the Leicester-based Muslim Forum, is unequivocal about the dangers such Islamification poses. “We have a cultural and social apartheid which fundamentalists thrive off,” he says. Muslim Britain is becoming one big no-go area >>> By Shiraz Maher

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

We Must Listen to Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali
DAILY EXPRESS: AT LAST a trumpet blast has been sounded against the creeping Islamification of Britain.

For too long our ruling elite has been in denial about the consequences of this insidious process, pretending the assertiveness of Muslim culture is just another element in the rich diversity of British society.

Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and a leading figure in the Church of England, has had the courage to attack the fashionable ortho­doxy. In a brave and eloquent article yesterday, he warned that the rise of Islamic extremism is not only destroying Christianity but is also creating “no go” areas in parts of Britain, where non-Muslims are made to feel deeply uncomfortable.

Bishop Nazir-Ali’s words are all the more powerful because he was born in Pakistan into 
a Muslim family and later converted to Christianity.

So he has a far better understanding of the brutal realities of hardline Muslim ideology than all the dripping wet Anglican clerics and politicians who prattle about the joys of multi-culturalism.

But there is nothing the politically correct brigade loathes more than an intelligent challenge to their dogma.


Instead of engaging with the argument, they attack their opponent for daring to speak out. The Bishop of Rochester has therefore been condemned for “scaremongering”, producing “a gross caricature” of urban society, and making “extraordinary inflammatory” remarks.

Yet Bishop Nazir-Ali is absolutely right. His critics are living in a fantasy world conjured up by their own deceitful clappy-happy rhetoric if they think Britain does not have a problem with the growing strength of Islam in our midst.

The fact is that, in all too many of our cities, Mus­lim radicalism has led to segregation, oppression of women, criminality and terrorism.

Enthusiasts for multi-culturalism continually demand that the indigenous British people show tolerance towards those of other faiths but when it comes to fundamentalist Islam, there is no pressure for this mood of tolerance to be reciprocated.

Islam in Britain could be portrayed as a combination of the outstretched palm of victimhood, begging for official support, and the clenched fist of grievance, threatening violence if demands are not met.

All too often the political establishment has surrendered, dressing up its feebleness as multi-cultural sensiti­vity. But, as the Bishop of Rochester asserts, the outcome of this defeatism has been catastrophic. Civic institutions might blather about “unity in diversity” but, in reality, urban Britain is scarred by divisions. Integration has given way to separatism. We Must Listen to the Bishop’s Warnings on the Dangers of Islam >>> By Leo McKinstry

Hat tip: Ray Boyd

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)