Britain in Moral Crisis, Warns Bishop of Rochester
THE TELEGRAPH: The Bishop of Rochester has warned that Britain is facing a moral crisis.

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali said that the rejection of Christian values is having a damaging effect on the country.

Speaking at his farewell service, he expressed particular concern at the breakdown of the family and at growing calls for the legalisation of assisted suicide.

Although he is stepping down as bishop, he vowed to continue to speak out on important issues and to fight for a return to Christian principles.

"I believe that the Christian faith is necessary for the life of our country," he said.

"We need to get away from the constant making of moral decisions by opinion poll.

"We are facing a crisis about affirming the dignity of human purpose.

"It may be at the earliest stage of life or as we are hearing more and more, at the later stages of life."

He added: "It is obvious to many people that the weakening of family life is responsible for what we face on our streets, in our classrooms and in homes. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones | Sunday, September 13, 2009

Bishop of Rochester: Church of England Must Do More to Counter Twin Threats of Secularism and Radical Islam
THE TELEGRAPH: Traditional British society is under threat from the rise of aggressive secularism and radical Islam, one of the Church of England's most outspoken bishops has warned as he steps down.

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, who ends his time as Bishop of Rochester next week, said the established religion must speak out more to preserve the country’s Christian heritage and offer moral guidance to the masses.

He also claimed that liberal Anglicans around the world who are following contemporary culture rather than the teachings of the Bible are effectively following a different faith.

Dr Nazir-Ali, who was born in Pakistan, became the Church’s first Asian bishop when he was appointed to Rochester in 1994 and came to be seen as a contender for the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

However the job went to Dr Rowan Williams and as the global Anglican Communion tore itself apart over the ordination of homosexual clergy, Dr Nazir-Ali instead became known as one of its leading conservative voices.

Last year he claimed some parts of Britain had become “no-go areas” for non-Muslims, and boycotted a once-a-decade gathering of senior Anglicans in protest at the presence of liberal American bishops.

In a final interview with The Daily Telegraph before stepping down on Tuesday, Dr Nazir-Ali said he did not believe the history of the church would have been different had he been given the most important job in Anglicanism.

“This is not about one man – these are currents in culture and they happen in different ages.

“I am happy that I’ve been able to do what I’ve been asked to do.”

But he also said that the Church of England, which is used to working with society, should speak up more often to defend the country’s customs and institutions, most of which are based on Christian teaching. >>> Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, August 29, 2009

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

Church of England Bishop Accused of Trying to Set Up Rival Church
THE TELEGRAPH: One of the Church of England's leading bishops has been accused of setting up a rival church by another senior Anglican clergyman.

The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali has been accused of trying to set up rival church. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The Very Rev Colin Slee, the liberal Dean of Southwark has publicly attacked the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, and said that he was one of three bishops whose position was now "open to some debate".

The Dean's broadside, delivered in the introduction to the annual report for Southwark Cathedral, will infuriate evangelical supporters of the Bishop, 59, and further widen the gulf between the traditional and liberal wings of the church. >>> By Chris Hastings | Saturday, April 18, 2009

Rod Liddle: The C Of E Has Forgotten Its Purpose. Why, Exactly, Does It Exist?
THE SPECTATOR: Rod Liddle offers an Easter message to the leaders of the Church, who have ditched its traditions and reduced it to a sort of superannuated ad-hoc branch of social services. It has lost all sense of mission and direction. Whatever happened to muscular Christianity?

Image courtesy of The Spectator
What did you give up for Lent? I gave up chives again. Forty-five days of deprivation. According to the ecclesiastical calendar I am allowed my first chive on Saturday — but do you know what? I’m going to say no. My willpower has become a marvel to myself; I’m saying no to chives all the way through to May. I might have one then, and then again, I might not. The power of my faith enables me to crush utterly any bodily craving for chives. I am on a spiritual plane beyond such temptations, although this does not stretch to other members of the alliaceae family, i.e. onions. I have had onions.

Lent is another of those things which is not what it used to be. It lacks the rigour of, say, Ramadan. By and large the Church of England does not demand that we be self-denying because it knows that we do not want to be self-denying. Perhaps it does not see the point in self-denial or deferred gratification anymore. But it’s more likely that it is too closely attuned to a society which is not terribly keen on even the briefest expression of asceticism.

The Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, gave up something rather more substantive for Lent — and he won’t be succumbing on Saturday either. He’s given up being a bishop for good, unless we can persuade him otherwise. In future he intends to work for the benefit of Christian people who suffer religious persecution in foreign lands — in other, less elegant words, he is going to be socking it to the mozzies. It is remarkable that he should be forced to leave his current position in order to fight for the human rights of persecuted Christians; you might have assumed that being a Church of England bishop was a pretty good platform from which to undertake such work. As it is, he will not have the full force of the Church of England behind him; he will be, so far as Lambeth Palace is concerned, an ex-parrot.

We do not hear very much from the Church of England about the plight of Christians, and particularly Anglicans, in hostile foreign environments. Under the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, the church does not like to make too much of a fuss about murdered priests in the Sudan, the constant fears of samizdat believers in Riyadh, the continued state persecution in Turkey, the perpetual discrimination in Indonesia and Malaysia and Bangladesh. Or about the Punjabi Christian dragged before a court in Pakistan accused of having sent a blasphemous message on his mobile phone, the Muslim hordes screaming for the death sentence outside the court. The thousands of Christians in Bauchi, Nigeria, watching their homes burned to the ground and their leaders attacked by, again, Muslim mobs. The beatings and murders in liberated — yea, praise the lord! — Afghanistan. We don’t hear much about that stuff from anyone, be it the BBC, our politicians or most notably the Church of England.

You might expect the C of E to feel at least a little bit uncomfortable that Anglicans were being strung up or burned alive in the middle east and elsewhere. But it does not seem to be an enormous issue for the prelates. The problem being that it would bring Rowan, and the church, into conflict with the very Islamists with whom they are thoroughly enjoying their important ‘inter-faith dialogues’, by which they seem to set so much store. These inter-faith dialogues have never, ever, to my knowledge, touched upon Islamic persecution of Christians: all the traffic is in the other direction, and the Church of England thinks it is all going swimmingly. >>> Rod Liddle, The Spectator | Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Melanie Phillips: When a Bishop Has to Leave the Church of England to Stand Up for Christians, What Hope Is Left for Britain?
NAME: The resignation of Michael Nazir-Ali as Bishop of Rochester is a terrible blow, not just for the Church of England but for Britain.

The bishop says he is resigning so that he can work for endangered or beleaguered Christian minorities both abroad and in the UK.

What a shocking rebuke to the church, that he has to leave his post of influence and authority as a bishop in order to carry out the church's core duty to defend its own against attack.

Shocking - but hardly surprising. Across the world, in countries such as Nigeria and Sudan, millions of Christians are being persecuted at the hands of militant Islam, with forced conversions, the burning of churches and widespread violence.

Yet in the face of this global onslaught, the Church of England makes scarcely a peep of protest.

Worse still, when Dr Nazir-Ali warned last year that Islamic extremists had created 'no-go areas' across Britain where non-Muslims faced intimidation, he was disowned by his fellow churchmen who all but declared that he was a liar - even though he was telling the truth.

Courage

For this act of moral courage, he and his family had to be put under police protection, while his own church left him to swing in the wind of bigotry and intimidation.

Dr Nazir-Ali is one of the very few inside the church to make explicit the link between Christian and British values, and to warn publicly that they are being destroyed through the prevailing doctrine of multiculturalism.

That strong voice of protest has never been needed more than it is now. For Christianity in Britain is under attack from all sides.

Last month, the bishop protested that the arrival in Britain of so many from other faiths had led to the closure of chapels, the retrenchment of Christian chaplaincy and the advent of a 'doctrinaire multi-faithism' - not through pressure from the incoming minorities, but from British secularists who wanted to destroy Christianity.

That agenda is becoming ever more oppressive. Yesterday, it was revealed that a Christian council worker was suspended for encouraging a terminally ill woman to turn to God. He says he was also told it was inappropriate to 'talk about God' with a client and that he should not even say 'God bless'. >>> By Melanie Phillips | Sunday, March 29, 2009

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

A Troublesome Priest in a Timid Church
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Whatever your views about Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, he is hard to ignore. After his announcement this weekend that he is to retire early, the Church of England will be the poorer for it. The inference is that he felt stifled and decided that he could do more worthwhile work elsewhere, mostly outside Britain. Sadly, he is probably right.

Born in Karachi to parents who converted to Christianity from Islam, the first non-white diocesan bishop in Britain emerged as an outspoken critic of multiculturalism. Nobody, given his background and race, was better placed to do so. More than his Anglican colleagues, he knew about fighting for your faith. His criticisms were well made. Immigrants, he said, needed to do more to integrate into British life. He warned last year that Islamic extremism had turned “already separate communities into ‘no-go’ areas”. For this he received death threats and required police protection.

He has lamented “the long withdrawing roar of the sea of faith . . . nurses cannot pray, the creed cannot be recited at Christian services for fear of offending non-believers”. He warned of “the advent of a doctrinaire multi-faithism”, in which the established church was in retreat and in which radical Islam had filled the void. His views on Muslims were said to have ruled him out of succeeding George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Bishop Nazir-Ali spoke out against the soggy “anything goes” political correctness that characterises the modern Church of England. Sometimes his conservative views got him into trouble. Nine years ago he caused a flurry by saying that having children was “not an optional extra” for married couples. >>> | Sunday, March 29, 2009

Bishop of Rochester to Become Defender of Persecuted Christians
THE TELEGRAPH: The Bishop of Rochester has surprised the Church of England by announcing that he will stand down this year to become a defender of persecuted Christians.

Dr Michael Nazir-Ali is only 59 and could have stayed for another decade in his post, one of the most senior in the Church, but has chosen instead to devote the rest of his career to working in communities where Christians are in a minority.

While this is likely to see him involved in the Middle East and Pakistan, the bishop revealed that he also plans to work with Muslim converts to Christianity in Britain.

He said he has been inspired by the story of Hannah Shah, an Imam's daughter who faced being killed by her family for refusing an arranged marriage before becoming a Christian.

"Bishop Michael is hoping to work with a number of church leaders from areas where the church is under pressure, particularly in minority situations, who have asked him to assist them with education and training for their particular situation," said a spokesman. >>> By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Sunday, March 29, 2009

MAIL Online: Bishop Nazir-Ali, Scourge of Church Liberals, Steps Down

One of the Church of England’s most outspoken bishops is to resign a decade early after years of disenchantment with the liberal drift of Anglicanism.

The Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali – the Church’s only Asian diocesan bishop – is planning to devote much of his time to helping persecuted Christians in Muslim countries such as Pakistan and Iran.

But Dr Nazir-Ali, who boycotted the Lambeth Conference last summer in protest over gay clerics, is also certain to remain a powerful spokesman for Anglican conservatives.

The 59-year-old bishop – who has been in the post for 15 years and could have stayed there until he was 70 – has never been afraid of controversy.

Multi-culturalism, secularism and liberal theology have all been among his targets.

Last year he faced death threats for writing in a Sunday newspaper that Islamic extremists were creating ‘no-go’ areas for non-Muslims in parts of Britain.

The Bishop, his wife Valerie and their two sons were placed under police protection.

Earlier this year, he told The Mail on Sunday that the Church of England was not doing enough to convert Muslims. >>> | Sunday, March 29, 2009

Michael Nazir-Ali Steps Down as Bishop of Rochester
With the resignation of the Bishop of Rochester, the Church of England is about to lose one of its most able bishops. Dr Nazir-Ali has courted controversy because he has not been afraid of telling the people of Britian some home truths. As a result of this propensity to warn of the decreasing influence of Christianity in the United Kingdom and the increasing influence of Islam, he has made himself unpopular with the liberal élite which now dominates the increasingly left-leaning, almost Marxist Church. Clearly there in no room for such an able cleric in the enfeabled Church of England, now under the clumsy leadership of the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

The Archbishop is a man who spends more time appeasing Muslims than he does trying to fill the emptying churches. (When did he last preach the Gospel?) He is also busy preparing the docile people of this ‘Sceptered Isle’ for what’s ahead of them: The “inevitable” introduction of Shari’ah law, he believes! You know the law he was talking about – that barbaric set of laws which Muslims mistakenly believe come from Allah (not God). The set of laws which determine that women be stoned to death for adultery, that homosexuals be put to death, that thieves be relieved of their limbs, and that people who drink alcohol be punished severely, usually by being whipped.

Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, a man whio truly understands Islam – his father was a convert to Christianity from that faith – would actually be the best man for the position of Archbishop of Canterbury. His retirement from the Anglican Church is therefore a sad and great loss at a time when the Church can ill afford such losses. – ©Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali has announced his decision to step down as the Bishop of Rochester, one of the most senior positions in the Church of England.


The Rev Michael Nazir-Ali has spoken out against the rise of secularisation in UK society, and the dangers of the rise of Islam in the country. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Although Dr Nazir-Ali has been in charge of the Rochester diocese for nearly 15 years, the decision to quit - which will see him leave his post later this year - has come as a surprise.

The bishop is aged only 59 and potentially could have stayed in post for another decade.

He was a leading contender to succeed George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury, but has become increasingly outspoken at the direction of the Church since Dr Rowan Williams’s appointment.

A spokesman for the bishop said that he wants to turn his attention to working with the persecuted church.

"Bishop Michael is hoping to work with a number of church leaders from areas where the church is under pressure, particularly in minority situations, who have asked him to assist them with education and training for their particular situation," he said.

Dr Nazir-Ali, who became the Church’s first Asian bishop when he was appointed to Rochester in 1994, has taken a strong stand against the rise of Islam in Britian.

He warned last year that parts of the country have been turned into "no-go" areas for non-Muslims and challenged Dr Williams’s claim that the introduction of sharia law is unavoidable.

As a result of his warning, the bishop received death threats saying he would not "live long" and would be "sorted out" if he continued to criticise Islam. >>> By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, March 28, 2009

KENT ONLINE: Offensive Word Insult to Bishop of Rochester

The Bishop of Rochester has been branded an "arsehole" by an aide to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The slur against the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali appeared in an official document sent to 43 diocesan bishops and 10 Downing Street.

The insult, which referred to the "arsehole Bishop of Rochester", appeared in a confidential list of job vacancies and prospective candidates.

The offensive word had been inserted in front of the Bishop's name. It is thought the person who added insult has been dismissed. >>> Luke Hollands | Saturday, March 28, 2009

TELEGRAPH BLOGS – Jonathan Wynne-Jones: Bishop of Rochester Is Stepping Down

An email has just dropped in my inbox revealing that Michael Nazir-Ali is stepping down as the Bishop of Rochester.
Still only 59, his decision to resign so early begs many questions.

The offical explanation is as follows: "he is hoping to work with a number of church leaders from areas where the church is under pressure, particularly in minority situations, who have asked him to assist them with education and training for their particular situation."

That he has a passion for supporting and defending the persecuted church is not in doubt.

But his decision has almost certainly been influenced by the dismay he feels at the direction that the Church of England has taken under Rowan Williams. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones | Saturday, March 28, 2009

TIMESONLINE: Bishop of Rochester to Resign a Decade Early

One of the Church of England's most outspoken bishops has announced that he is to resign a decade early to devote the rest of his life to work with Christians in Islamic areas.

The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the Church's only Asian bishop, who is just 59 and could have stayed at Rochester until his 70th birthday, intends to use his expertise as an Islamic scholar to work in Pakistan where he was born and in the Middle East to build bridges between Christians and Muslims.

A conservative evangelical, he will step down in September after nearly 15 years in the diocese.

Dr Michael Nazir-Ali was one of the favourites to succeed Dr George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury. Opposition from some in Britain's Muslim community is thought to have been one factor that cost him the job.

In February last year he was placed 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. >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Saturday, March 28, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH:
Bishop Warns of No-go Zones for Non-Muslims >>> By Jonathan Wynne-Jones | Friday, April 18, 2008

THE TELEGRAPH: Extremism Flourished as UK Lost Christianity

In fewer than 50 years, Britain has changed from being a society with an acknowledged Christian basis to one which is increasingly described by politicians and the media as "multifaith".

One reason for this is the arrival of large numbers of people of other faiths to these shores. Their arrival has coincided with the end of the Empire which brought about a widespread questioning of Britain's role.

On the one hand, the British were losing confidence in the Christian vision which underlay most of the achievements and values of the culture and, on the other, they sought to accommodate the newer arrivals on the basis of a novel philosophy of "multiculturalism".

This required that people should be facilitated in living as separate communities, continuing to communicate in their own languages and having minimum need for building healthy relationships with the majority.

Alongside these developments, there has been a worldwide resurgence of the ideology of Islamic extremism. One of the results of this has been to further alienate the young from the nation in which they were growing up and also to turn already separate communities into "no-go" areas where adherence to this ideology has become a mark of acceptability.

Those of a different faith or race may find it difficult to live or work there because of hostility to them and even the risk of violence. In many ways, this is but the other side of the coin to far-Right intimidation.

Attempts have been made to impose an "Islamic" character on certain areas, for example, by insisting on artificial amplification for the Adhan, the call to prayer.

Such amplification was, of course, unknown throughout most of history and its use raises all sorts of questions about noise levels and whether non-Muslims wish to be told the creed of a particular faith five times a day on the loudspeaker.

This is happening here even though some Muslim-majority communities are trying to reduce noise levels from multiple mosques announcing this call, one after the other, over quite a small geographical area.

There is pressure already to relate aspects of the sharia to civil law in Britain. To some extent this is already true of arrangements for sharia-compliant banking but have the far-reaching implications of this been fully considered?

It is now less possible for Christianity to be the public faith in Britain.

The existence of chapels and chaplaincies in places such as hospitals, prisons and institutions of further and higher education is in jeopardy either because of financial cuts or because the authorities want "multifaith" provision, without regard to the distinctively Christian character of the nation's laws, values, customs and culture. >>> By Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester | Friday, January 11, 2009

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

Radical Islam Is Filling Void Left by Collapse of Christianity in the UK, Says Bishop of Rochester
I stated in my book, The Dawning of a New Dark Age, that Islam would fill the vacuum in the UK and the West that a decline in Christianity would bring forth. It is gratifying, but very disturbing of course, that the very able, forthright and insightful Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, says the same thing.

I have called for strong leadership in the Church for quite some time now. Leadership in the Church of England is woefully weak. None is weaker than the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. The Bishop of Rochester would make a far better choice for Archbishop of Canterbury; indeed, he would be the right choice for the times.

Islam is now the greatest threat facing the West. We need strong political leadership and strong Church leadership if we are to stand any hope of winning this war. And make no mistake: War it is! There is a great deal at stake, too. Think liberty, think democracy, think humanity, think truth! - ©Mark

Photo of Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, courtesy of The Sunday Telegraph

THE TELEGRAPH: The decline of Christian values is destroying Britishness and has created a "moral vacuum" which radical Islam is filling, one of the Church of England's leading bishops has warned.

The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, claimed the "social and sexual" revolution of the 1960s had led to a steep decline in the influence of Christianity over society which church leaders had failed to resist.

He said that in its place, Britain had become gripped by the doctrine of "endless self-indulgence" which had led to the destruction of family life, rising levels of drug abuse and drunkenness and mindless violence on the streets.

The bishop warns that the modern politicians' catchphrases of respect and tolerance will not be strong enough to prevent this collapse of traditional virtues, and said radical Islam is now moving in to fill the void created by the decline of Christianity.

His claims, in an article published in the new political magazine Standpoint, come just days after he accused the Church of England of failing in its duty to convert British Muslims to Christianity.

Dr Nazir-Ali claims in the new article that Britain, previously a "rabble of mutually hostile tribes", would never have become a global empire without the arrival of Christianity.

But he said the Church's influence began to wane during the 1960s, and quotes an academic who blames the loss of "faith and piety among women" for the steep decline in Christian worship.

He says Marxist students encouraged a "social and sexual revolution" to which liberal theologians and Church leaders "all but capitulated".

"It is this situation that has created the moral and spiritual vacuum in which we now find ourselves. While the Christian consensus was dissolved, nothing else, except perhaps endless self-indulgence, was put in its place." Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali: Radical Islam Is Filling Void Left by Collapse of Christianity in UK >>> By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | May 29, 2008

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

From the Man Who Should Be Archbishop: Church of England Not Doing Enough to Convert Muslims
Photo of Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, courtesy of The Sunday Telegraph
MAIL ON SUNDAY: The Church of England was accused by one of its most senior bishops yesterday of failing in its duty to convert British Muslims to Christianity.

The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, said Church leaders had rightly shown sensitivity towards Muslims as part of efforts to welcome minority faiths.

But he said: ‘I think it may have gone too far and what we need now is to recover our nerve.’

Dr Nazir-Ali, who faced death threats earlier this year after saying that some parts of the country had become ‘no-go areas’ for non-Muslims, said that it was important for faiths to talk to one another without diluting their core beliefs.

‘Our nation is rooted in the Christian faith, and that is the basis for welcoming people of other faiths,’ he said. ‘You cannot have an honest conversation on the basis of fudge.’

The Pakistani-born bishop, who in 2002 was tipped to become Archbishop of Canterbury before Dr Rowan Williams took over from Dr George Carey, was echoing concerns that many Church leaders are abandoning attempts to spread Christianity among Muslims out of fear of a backlash.

Members of the Church’s ‘parliament’ have now forced the highly sensitive issue on to the agenda of this summer’s General Synod – despite the efforts of liberal bishops to warn them off. Church Is Not Doing Enough to Convert UK Muslims, Says Bishop >>> By Jonathan Petre | May 25, 2008

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

Bishop of Rochester Reasserts 'No-Go' Claim
The man who should be made Archbishop of Canterbury!
Photo of Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, courtesy of The Sunday Telegraph
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: In his first interview since his controversial comments, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali vows not to be forced into silence

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, who received death threats for airing his views on Islamic issues, has vowed that he will continue to speak out.

His claim that Islamic extremism has turned some parts of Britain into "no-go" areas for non-Muslims led to fierce rows between political and religious leaders over the impact of multiculturalism on this country.

Those comments were followed soon after by the Archbishop of Canterbury's suggestion that the adoption of aspects of sharia law in Britain was "unavoidable".

The bishops' views in The Sunday Telegraph sparked a storm of criticism and raised questions over the role of the Church in society but, most seriously for Dr Nazir-Ali, led to threats that he and his family would be harmed.

Yet, in his first interview since the sinister calls were made to his home, the Bishop of Rochester remains steadfastly defiant. He will not be silenced. "I believe people should not be prevented from speaking out," he says. "The issue had to be raised. There are times when Christian leaders have to speak out."

He arrived in Britain in the 1980s and seems to have taken up the mantle for defending the country's values he fears are being threatened by a loss of its Christian heritage.

Dressed casually in a roll-neck jumper and sports jacket, he seems relaxed now as he walks around his study in Bishopscourt, but it has clearly been a stressful time.

Threats were made warning that he would not "live long" and would be "sorted out" if he continued to criticise Islam.

"If you disagree, that must be met by counter-arguments, not by trying to silence people. It was a threat not just to me, but to my family. I took it seriously, so did the police. It gave me sleepless nights."

However, it's not the first time that his life has been endangered.

Shortly after being made a bishop in Pakistan - at 35 he was the youngest in the Anglican Church - he was forced to flee to Britain to seek refuge from Muslims who wanted to kill him.

He says that he never expected to suffer the same treatment in Britain and expresses concerns over recent social developments.

"The real danger to Britain today is the spiritual and moral vacuum that has occurred for the last 40 or 50 years. When you have such a vacuum something will fill it.

"If people are not given a fresh way of understanding what it means to be a Christian and what it means to be a Christian-based society then something else may well take the place of all that we're used to and that could be Islam." Bishop of Rochester reasserts 'no-go' claim >>> By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH:
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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)

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)