Posted on 02/24/2008 6:17:43 PM PST by Righting
'No-go' Bishop defends comments
The Bishop of Rochester has received death threats
A Church of England bishop who claimed Islamic extremism has made some places no-go areas for non-Muslims insists he was right to speak out on the issue.
The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali raised the issue last month in a Sunday Telegraph interview.
Now in a follow-up interview with the same newspaper, he accuses church leaders of not confronting the matter.
"The issue had to be raised. There are times when Christian leaders have to speak out. It's my duty," he says.
'Spiritual leaders'
Since making the comments in January he has received threats against himself and his family. Dr Nazir-Ali and his family are now under police protection.
In his latest interview, he insists his remarks were "based on evidence" and have been "strengthened as a result of overwhelming correspondence".
Do the British people really want to lose that rooting in the Christian faith that has given them everything they cherish?
Rt Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali
He argues that a "spiritual and moral vacuum" has occurred in Britain over the past half-century.
Unless Christianity fills that void, he adds, something else may take its place - "and that could be Islam".
"Do the British people really want to lose that rooting in the Christian faith that has given them everything they cherish - art, literature, architecture, institutions, the monarchy, their value system, their laws?"
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, subsequently faced intense criticism after he said that the adoption of sharia law in the UK was "unavoidable".
But Dr Nazir-Ali tells the Sunday Telegraph that he strongly rejects this analysis.
"People of every faith should be free within the law to follow what their spiritual leaders direct them to, but that's very different saying their structures should replace that of the English legal system because there would be conflicts," he says.
He was born in Pakistan and has both a Christian and Muslim family background.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7261237.stm
I’m surprised that yobs haven’t gone around Muslim areas splashing pork lard all over the place. It would be worth it just for the ha-has.
What? That would mean the yobs have spines. Much safer to pick on people who don’t behead you for jolly.
Yes.
John Fisher was murdered for speaking out.
Now we have an Anglican bishop of Rochester who stands up for the essential prerogatives of Christian citizens despite the political correctness of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is content to cower in the shadow of violent cultists in exchange for social preferment.
Never trust to the courage of your patsies, instead rely on their stupidity.
For instance, once I was showing off some habanero peppers to some friends at a coffee shop. A young man I didn’t know approached and said “Is that pepper hot?”
Now, had I said, “No, it’s not. Want to try?”, it would have taken two or three burly men to force it into his mouth, him fighting the whole time. So I didn’t.
Instead, I said “Yep. This is a habanero pepper, the hottest pepper in the world (at that time). If you eat it, it will kick your butt, and within five minutes, you will be in the restroom putting hand soap in your mouth.”
And before I could react, he had snatched that pepper from my hand, thrust it in his mouth, where he chewed it half a dozen times, and *swallowed* it.
Everybody at the table froze.
And yes, within five minutes, he was in the coffee shop restroom, washing his mouth out with hand soap, periodically coming out for a minute, flushed of face and sweating profusely, to repeatedly beg for a remedy I didn’t have, before dashing back to the restroom for another go at the pink liquid.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him what was going to happen in about a day.
In any event, if I wanted to do a nefarious act against a dangerous set, it is pro forma to recruit some enthusiastic and dim-witted youths to do it by proxy. And, succeed or fail in their mission, I would be many leagues away, most likely in another jurisdiction, and most likely sipping a dry martini, indifferent enough to be watching some other channel on the hotel bar TV.
It is just as pleasant reading it in the paper as witnessing in person.
*snicker-snort* Love the tale! Made me laugh, thank you!
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