Great Britain: Bishop warns of no-go zones for non-Muslims (Too dangerous to enter)

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | January 5, 2007 | Jonathan Wynne-Jones

[Stoat]

Bishop warns of no-go zones for non-Muslims

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones
 

Last Updated: 7:53pm GMT 05/01/2008

 

 

Islamic extremists have created "no-go" areas across Britain where it is too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter, one of the Church of England's most senior bishops warns today.

• The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church's only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race or faith face physical attack if they live or work in communities dominated by a strict Muslim ideology.

  	Bishop Nazir-Ali warns that attempts are being made to give Britain an increasingly Islamic character

  Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, he compares the threat to the use of intimidation by the far-Right, and says that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Christianity to be the nation's public religion in a multifaith, multicultural society.

  His comments come as a poll of the General Synod - the Church's parliament - shows that its senior leaders, including bishops, also believe that Britain is being damaged by large-scale immigration.

  Bishop Nazir-Ali, who was born in Pakistan, gives warning that attempts are being made to give Britain an increasingly Islamic character by introducing the call to prayer and wider use of sharia law, a legal system based on the Koran.

  In an attack on the Government's response to immigration and the influx of "people of other faiths to these shores", he blames its "novel philosophy of multiculturalism" for allowing society to become deeply divided, and accuses ministers of lacking a "moral and spiritual vision".

  Echoing Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, who has said that the country is "sleepwalking into segregation", the bishop argues that multiculturalism has led to deep divisions.

  David Davis, the shadow home secretary, has accused Muslims of promoting a kind of "voluntary apartheid" by shutting themselves in closed societies and demanding immunity from criticism.

  In the Synod survey, to be published this week, bishops, senior clergy and influential churchgoers said that an increasingly multi-faith society threatens the country's Christian heritage and blamed the divisions on the Government's failure to integrate immigrants into their communities.

  It found that more than one in three believe that a mass influx of people of other faiths is diluting the Christian nature of Britain and only a quarter feel that they have been integrated into society.

  The overwhelming majority - 80 per cent - said that the Government has not upheld the place of religion in public life and up to 63 per cent fear that the Church will be disestablished within a generation, breaking a bond that has existed between the Church and State since the Reformation.

  Calls for disestablishment have grown following research showing that attendance at Mass has overtaken the number of worshippers at Church of England Sunday services.

  Bishop Nazir-Ali, whose father converted from Islam to Catholicism, was criticised by Ibrahim Mogra, of the Muslim Council of Britain. He said: "It's irresponsible for a man of his position to make these comments.

  "He should accept that Britain is a multicultural society in which we are free to follow our religion at the same time as being extremely proud to be British. We wouldn't allow 'no-go' areas to happen. I smell extreme intolerance when people criticise multiculturalism without proper evidence of what has gone wrong."

  But the Bishop's concerns are shared by other members of the General Synod.

  The Rt Rev Nicholas Reade, the Bishop of Blackburn, which has a large Muslim community, said that it was increasingly difficult for Christians to share their faith in areas where there was a high proportion of immigrants of other faiths.

  He believes that increasing pressure will be put on the Government to begin the process of disestablishment and end the preferential status given to the Church of England. "The writing is on the wall," he said.

  Gordon Brown relinquished Downing Street's involvement in appointing bishops in one of his first facts as Prime Minister - a move viewed by some as a significant step towards disestablishment.

  Last night, Mr Davis said: "Bishop Nazir-Ali has drawn attention to a deeply serious problem. The Government's confused and counter-productive approach risks creating a number of closed societies instead of one open, cohesive one. It generates the risk of encouraging radicalisation and creating home-grown terrorism."

[Stoat]

Please also see this related article:

Extremism flourished as UK lost Christianity - Telegraph

Extremism flourished as UK lost Christianity

By Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester
 

Last Updated: 7:53pm GMT 05/01/2008

 

 

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. 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.

  Not only locally, but at the national level also the establishment of the Church of England is being eroded. My fear is, in the end, nothing will be left but the smile of the Cheshire Cat.

  In the past, I have supported the establishment of the Church, but now I have to ask if it is only the forms that are left and the substance rapidly disappearing. If such is the case, is it worth persevering with the trappings of establishment?

  Much of this has come about because of a "neutral" secularist approach which refuses to privilege any faith. In fact, secularism has its own agenda and it is certainly not neutral. It is perfectly possible for Britain to welcome people on the basis of its Christian heritage.

  Christian chaplains can arrange for people of other faiths to have access to their own spiritual leaders without compromising the Christian basis of their own ministry.

  Instead of this, the multifaith "mish mash" is producing a new, de facto, establishment as the Government attempts to bring particular communities on to its agenda for integration and cohesion, an agenda which still lacks the underpinning of a moral and spiritual vision.

  If it had not been for the black majority churches and the recent arrival of people from central and eastern Europe, the Christian cause in many of our cities would have looked a lost one.

  At last it seems the Government may be waking up to the situation; to the importance of English as a means of communication, to greater integration in housing, schools, and leisure pursuits and in citizenship education.

  But none of this will be of any avail if Britain does not recover that vision of its destiny which made it great. That has to do with the Bible's teaching that we have equal dignity and freedom because we are all made in God's image.

  It has to do with a prophetic passion for justice and compassion and it has to do with the teaching and example of Jesus Christ regarding humility, service and sacrifice. Let us pledge in this New Year to restore this noble vision to the centre of our national life.

[SevenofNine]

Who want invest in area that mostly Radical Islam I don’t think any sane mind business person want too

[2banana]

The beginning of the end of Britain???

[Lancer_N3502A]

Coming soon to big cities in the U.S.

[Man50D]

Islam is not a religion. It is a violent political ideology with it's own set of laws all must follow. It is tantamount to Nazism. This situation is not a case of a minority of Muslims often referred to as radical or extremists. It is precept of Islam to dominate all non Muslims as the following article confirms.

Islamic Scholar Warns U.S. of 'Two-Faced' Muslims

[Regulator]

Enlighten me again about my Cassandra like tendencies.

[Stoat]

 

Please say a prayer for our dear British Friends

[maica]

It is way beyond the beginning of the end in Britain. Only because major media don’t want to address the issue is the publication of the truth suppressed.

[weegee]

It’s just like “home”. The capital they bow to 5 times a day EVERY day has a death penalty for non-muslims who dare enter.

It is an intolerant supremacist ideology every bit as brutal as Nazism.

[Freedom_no_exceptions]

Who want invest in area that mostly Radical Islam I don’t think any sane mind business person want too

Unless the business person is a burqua/hijab/chador merchant, knife-maker, explosives manufacturer, etc...

[Issaquahking]

Thank president boosh for inviting all across the border (Ramos & Compean).

The RINO's and PC crowd.

The lib's and their socialist/useful idiot roll.

The next war on American soil will be lead against islamofacism by patriots, and other great Americans that have LOTS of guns and ammunition....


Taht the libs so desperately don't want you to have...

[Dagnabitt]

Islamic immigration to the West is an act of national suicide.

[Salvey]

Islam is not a religion.

Agreed. I'm wondering if the constitutional protections afforded religions here in the US could be challenged with respect to islam on the grounds that it is not, in fact, a religion in the accepted sense.

[livius]

bishops, senior clergy and influential churchgoers said that an increasingly multi-faith society threatens the country's Christian heritage and blamed the divisions on the Government's failure to integrate immigrants into their communities.

It's the fault of "the government" only to the extent that they do not enforce basic human rights (for example, against things like genital mutilation and forced marriages and forced polygamy) in "immigrant" cultures.

But basically, it's the fault of Muslims, who came to Britain on a more or less temporary basis and then, as Muslims have always done, proclaimed England to be a part of the Islamic empire. They need to be knocked back down and reminded that they are just guests or a small permanent group who have been accorded every courtesy and need to extend courtesy on their part, as well. But who's going to do it?

Not the government, I'm sure.

[weegee]

There can be no separation of church and state with Islam as the Saudi State is funding the missionary expansion of Wahhabi Islamic teachings in America.

Church and State is more than just about our OWN state operating within OUR borders.

[SevenofNine]

OH BOY you got me there LOL!

[weegee]

You crush the Islamic empire by crushing the capital. There is ZERO tolerance for any other faith under Islam. The concept of “muslim lands” is one of supremacist thought.

The muslims in those nations are just as discriminatory against the natives who convert away from Islam (in fact they face a death penalty that the lowly kufir don’t even face because we’ve never been muslims in the first place).

They can worship a moon god if they want just as a neo-nazi can worship hitler and an anarchist can worship Marx. They cannot impose their totalitarian system on the world.

[Stoat]

It’s just like “home”. The capital they bow to 5 times a day EVERY day has a death penalty for non-muslims who dare enter.

It is an intolerant supremacist ideology every bit as brutal as Nazism.

Agreed, and I would wish to add that Islam could easily be viewed as considerably "more" dangerous than Nazism; not only because of the number of adherents it claims but because of it's acceptance and embrace by nation-states.  Nazism was quickly realized by everyone except the Left and various political apologists as an evil that must be instantly stamped out.  Islam is far more deadly in that it's being embraced in an official capacity virtually everywhere, and so the cancer is allowed to spread unchecked.

It’s just like “home”. The capital they bow to 5 times a day EVERY day has a death penalty for non-muslims who dare enter.

It is an intolerant supremacist ideology every bit as brutal as Nazism.

[weegee]

The war will be fought by the National Guard on US soil. But what will the Left do? Cry “police state” and urge for a withdrawl.

[weegee]

There are useful idiots who really believe that there is no harm and that the jihadists are not real muslims.

Then there are the multicultural moral relativists who see what the US and Israel is doing and what Christians have done in the past to be “no different” so they tolerate the Islamic terrorism (while condemning the US/Israel “abuses”). Orwell saw the same double standard ploy from the Stalinists in the West who’d condemn the US and UK but never the USSR.

Then there are the anarchists who want to tear down the current political system and need chaos to accomplish this goal. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Then there are the cowards who recognize the dangers of Islamonazism but would rather go through life bowing 5 times a day on a prayer rug than having their throats slit for denouncing Mohammed’s death cult. They also were the sort who couldn’t care less if they were living under “democracy” or Communism.