Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG

Nazir-Ali: there must be development in terms of doctrine

The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, has just delivered a strong address to Gafcon where he managed to shift the focus of the conference from defensiveness one of a positive and combative engagement with 'militant secularism'. He was surprisingly moderate in talking about how doctrine should develop in terms of the local culture. Gafcon, he said, was a miracle. 'And if you are anything gathered here together, you are the beginnings, the miraculous beginnings we can even say, of an ecclesial movement for the sake of the Gospel and for the renewal of Christ's church.' He did not speak from a text. Gafcon say the transcript will be available shortly but meanwhile, here are some extracts from my own recording. Our news story is also now online.

Seven in ten marriages 'forced'

More than seven in ten marriages involving an English citizen and a spouse born in Asia could have an element of  'force or coercion' about them, according to document published today that contains some of the strongest language used by community leaders to date. The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal claims that forced marriages reflect a 'crisis that has loomed within the Muslim community without being noticed or dealt with for the past two decades.' The tribunal, founded last year and based in Nuneaton near Coventry, says the official figures of 300 forced marriages a yar represent the tip of the iceberg. Muslim lawyers on the tribunal council based their figures on decades of experience within the community, and from observing their own friends and families.

West 'held hostage' by Islam says Rome

As Richard Owen reports, the Vatican is today warning that interfaith dialogue in the West must not allow itself to be held hostage by Islam. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue pictured here, has this week discussed new guidelines for interfaith dialogue and he said the Church 'has to have regard for all religions,' not just one. 'What was interesting about our discussions was that we did not concentrate on Islam because in a way we are being held hostage by Islam a little bit,' he told the Catholic website Terrasanta.net. 'Islam is very important, but there are also other great Asiatic religious traditions. Islam is one religion.' The Catholics are organising a Christian-Muslim summit in Rome in October, it being their response to the Common Word document published to mark the anniversary of the Regensberg address. The document was addressed to the Catholics and 'the other churches' too, and on their behalf the Archbishop of Canterbury earlier this month hosted a gathering of Christian leaders to discuss  present relations with Islam. (Read Tauran's London lecture on this on the Jesuit site ThinkingFaith.)

Faithbook on Facebook

'Faithbook, a new social networking facility for people of different faiths on Facebook, goes live tomorrow,' said the press release yesterday. I'm sorry to say I didn't get too exercised. Surely this was just one more of many thousands of groups on Facebook, my own included.  But in fact it is much more than that, as our news story shows. Senior members of the nine main faiths, including Judaism, Islam and Buddhism, have signed up and are contributing to discussions. The group, set up by the Movement for Reform Judaism with the help of Simon Cohen of Global Tolerance, is also taking the scriptures of each faith seriously,  with illustrations and plans for analysis of the common ground between the faiths as found in the scriptures. See Dave Walker's interesting take on it in The Church Times.

 

Persecution Index 10: Iran

Sinister turn of affairs in Iran where the plight of the unfortunate Baha'is, persecuted there for a century and a half, worsens. Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli and Vahid Tizfahm, all prominent members of the faith, have been arrested. In addition, Mahvash Sabet has been held in custody since 5 March this year after she was summoned by the Ministry of Intelligence to answer questions, ostensibly about the burial of an individual in the Baha'i cemetery in that city.

Persecution Index 10: Pakistan

Some extremists in Pakistan are calling for a Christian doctor to be hanged publicly for blasphemy, according to a news story on Persecution.org. Dr Robin Sarder was charged ten days ago with violating Pakistan's blasphemy laws. A Muslim who he had been friends with for many years, but who according to the story became jealous of his professional success, told police he had made derogatory comments about the Prophet Mohammed's beard and about the Koran. After the complaint was lodged against him, a crowd of 200 Muslims wearing green turbans, a sign of orthodoxy, attacked his clinic and home. Observers say that if the police hat not intervened, he would have been killed. He is currently being held in jail. The Roman Catholic Church, through its organisation the National Commission for Justice and Peace, has taken up his case. You can email the embassy here on his behalf. Fifteen people have been accused of blasphemy in Pakistan so far this year. Dr Sardar is the only Christian to be so accused. In 1998, Bishop John Joseph , the Catholic bishop of Faisalabad, committed suicide in a protest against Pakistan's draconian blasphemy laws, introduced in 1986. The pic here comes from a BBC report of Christians demonstrating against the laws.

Teenage female suicide bomber kills Iraqi captain

Reports coming out of Iraq this afternoon suggest that a teenage suicide bomber has killed an Iraqi captain and injured four soldiers south of Baghdad. Apparently the attack happened today as the teenager, a young woman or girl, approached the Iraqi commander in Youssifiyah, one of the areas in Iraq being targeted by Al Qaeda as the US 'surge' in Baghdad proves increasingly successful. The bomb was detonated by remote control, killing Captain Wassem al-Maamouri and injuring four soldiers. American troops are searching for those responsible.

Of course female suicide bombers are not unprecedented.

Persecution Index 9: United Kingdom

Update: The PMOI won their case, the British government lost. Bartholomew's blog has more details.

Opposed to the regime in Iran is an organisation called the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran. This is a resistance operation that has the support of a number of organisations. But in the United Kingdom, this organisation, one of the few Islamic organisations that campaigns with a feminist agenda and is wholly committed to women's rights, is proscribed by the British Government. The EU is among the organisations and states that has designated it a terrorist organisation, although the European Court of Justice overturned this. The group officially renounced violence in 2001. Its political arm, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has helped provide intelligence on Iran's nuclear activities. Iran has also denounced the organisation as un-Islamic.Why am I writing this now? Because after legal action by no fewer than 35 MPs, the UK's Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission ordered that these people be removed from the proscribed list, a list that influences directly the EU designation.  The Home Secretary has gone to the Court of Appeal to get this ruling overturned. The British Government remains convinced that these people are terrorists. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we get the result from the panel of three judges chaired by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips.

Persecution Index 8: United States

It appears that the pig is being persecuted in the United States. Please don't laugh. A regular reader of this blog has sent me the following from Front Page Magazine: 'The practice of political correctness may soon be tallying another casualty: the pig. Increasingly, as America and the rest of the Western world continue accommodating Muslim religious demands, pork food products are being singled out for removal from dining tables and pig-related trinkets banished from the desks of office workers.'

Read the rest here.

Meanwhile, some blogs have picked up the AP report that leaders of Ireland’s main Christian churches were barred from praying at Jerusalem’s Western Wall yesterday because they refused to remove the crosses they were wearing. 'Roman Catholic Cardinal Sean Brady, Church of Ireland Archbishop Alan Harper and Presbyterian and Methodist Moderators John Finlay and Roy Cooper arrived at the wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, without giving prior notice to Israeli authorities, Brady told the Irish broadcast network RTE.'

I look forward to hearing how they got on when they tried entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque without taking their shoes off.

 

Suicide bombing 'un-Islamic' says top Muslim peer

A very good speech from interfaith expert Lord Hameed in the House of Lords tonight, on why suicide bombing is un-Islamic and how inadequate leadership in Britain's Muslim community is fomenting radicalism among its youth. I've posted the full text below. Lord Hameed was recently awarded the Interfaith Gold Medallion by the Sternberg Foundation.

Persecution Index 7: Saudi

A divorced Saudi woman from Saudi Arabia cannot board a plane without her son's permission, Tom Gross reports on his website.

Tom writes: 'The Gulf's largest and most important Arab state continues to practice severe discrimination against many minorities and against its female half of the population.

'Over the years, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch has been much criticized by many people (including myself) for obsessively condemning the U.S. and Israel while all but ignoring far worse human rights offenders around the world, including those in Arab countries. I am glad to say that HRW has this month finally produced a comprehensive report critical of Saudi Arabia'

Comment of the Day 29 April

Welcome to Comment of the Day, a new feature in which each day I will highlight the best comment from that day. First up, our regular Irene Lancaster:

'Calling Pakistanis 'jewish bastard' was par for the course in schools I taught in in the Rochdale and Oldham areas of Greater Manchester (also near to Bradford).

On one occasion, I was called in to teach RE to the mainly white class. There was one Pakistani Muslim in the class. In order to taunt him to the extreme, his class-mates called him 'you bloody Jew'. There were no Jews in the school. The nearest the class had come to meeting a Jew was a visit to the Jewish Museum in Cheetham Hill, North Manchester.'

Read it all here.

Persecution Index 6: United Kingdom

Today, Christian Solidarity Worldwide is publishing an important report that examines the consequences of apostasy in Islam around the world. You can read the full report hereand pretty grim reading it makes. Yesterday's paper carried a report. One case involved British convert Nissar Hussein, 43, born and raised in the United Kingdom but who converted from Islam to Christianity with his wife, Qubra, in 1996. The report says: 'Relationships with both their families were severed following conversion and Nissar has not heard from his parents or siblings since. What makes the story of Nissar and Qubra so unpleasant is how the Pakistani community in Bradford, where Nissar grew up, reacted to his conversion. Nissar and Qubra stated in an interview with Christian Solidarity that the initial response to their conversion was that their
friends severed relationships and asked them never to visit or talk to them again. As news of their
conversion spread, people on the streets, in shops and at their children’s school began to ignore them, or to insult them, and on one occasion, Nissar was called a 'Jewish bastard' 'by strangers.

Persecution Index 5: Singapore

From the Becket Fund: 'Two Singaporeans, Dorothy Chan Hien Leng and Ong Kian Cheong, have been charged under the Sedition Act and the Undesirable Publications Act after giving an Evangelical Christian publication to two people last year, Agence France-Presse reported on April 16.  Specific details of the publication are unknown, though it allegedly contained a negative portrayal of the Prophet Mohammed.  Singapore is known to take severe action against anyone who is thought to have increased tensions in the community, previously jailing two men for anti-Muslim blogs and warning another for posting cartoons online which mocked Jesus Christ.'

Persecution Index 4: South Africa, Pakistan

Muslim parents have taken over the school governing body of a Christian-majority high school in Kwazulu-Natal, SoutMuslimh Africa, the Barnabas Fund reports. By law meetings must be held to elect members of the governing body. 'Apathy among the Christian parents meant that hardly any Christians showed up at an electoral meeting, allowing the Muslim parents to seize control of the governing body by winning six of the seven elected positions. In South Africa the curriculum of the school is set by the government, but almost all other management issues relating to the school are decided upon by the governors. This includes decisions on the headmaster, staff, sport, culture and ethos.

Persecution Index 3: Jordan

According to Middle East Concern, a convert to Christianity has fled Jordan after being charged with apostasy and threatened with the loss of his children. Muhammad Abbad Abd al-Qader Abbad, a 40 year old Jordanian who converted to Christianity 15 years ago, left Jordan on Friday March 28 after being charged with apostasy before the North Amman Shari'a Court. Muhammad and his wife Muna al-Habash, have two children: Joy, age 11, and Salam, age 9. On Sunday 23 March, Muhammad and Muna were attacked and beaten by several brothers-in-law of another convert to Christianity who had sought sanctuary in Muhammad's home. Muhammad's son, Salam, was also hit several times as he tried to protect his father. After the beatings Muhammad's father reported his son to the police and asked for custody of the couple's two children.

Persecution Index 2: Saudi

The Becket Fund reports today: 'Officials in Saudi Arabia have sentenced a Turkish citizen to death for blasphemy, after the man was accused of using 'obscene language' to refer to God Today's Zaman reported on April 19.  Sabri Boğday, a Turk who has resided in the Saudi Arabian province of Jeddah for the past ten years, allegedly used the offending terms in the course of an argument with his neighbor. Turkish officials fear that Boğday has been falsely accused, according to Today's Zaman, and worry that because he is a foreigner, he will be dealt with in a particularly harsh manner. Immigrants are said to be at greater risk for convictions in Saudi Arabia; in the last year alone, 76 foreigners were executed in the country.'

The Islam okey-kokey

A friend sent me this. It appeared on popbitch. I know it has been lots of other places too, but this amused me because of what it says, so concisely, about the world we live in now.

'Liveleak.com is the website that came to everyone's attention when it elected to host Ken Bigley execution videos.It recently hosted Geert Wilders' anti-Islam film, Fitna.The site started getting death threats from Islamic extremists. It took only about 12 hours for Liveleak to take it down. They then got death threats from the far-right, accusing them of being pro-terrorist. So they put it back up.'

I just checked, and the video is still there, but for how long?

Ben Elton: BBC 'scared' of Islam.

Comedian Ben Elton has accused the BBC of allowing 'vicar gags' but not 'imam gags'. In an interview with James Cary of Third Way magazine he admits to believing in almost nothing, even though his kids attend a local church school. His recent novel Blind Faith explores some of the issues around faith in the post-modern age. He believes people should be taught the essentials of Christianity, even if only for cultural reasons. But he also believes 'lack of faith' should be taught in schools. I've posted some of his quotes below.

Saudi King calls for interfaith dialogue

Joanna writes: King Abdullah has called for interfaith dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews. Richard Owen has done the story for Times Online. The King called for "conferences between the religions to protect humanity from folly" just two days after the Pope baptised Muslim Magdi Allam into the Catholic faith.

The King said: "I wanted to visit the Vatican and I did and I thank him. He met me in a meeting I will not forget, a meeting of one human being with another. I suggested this idea," he said.

Islam 'reformation' imminent

It is being widely reported that the leading religious authority in Turkey, the Diyanet, is to agree to an editing down of the Hadith, the books containg the sayings and deeds of Mohammed, and on which 90 per cent of sharia law is based. One thing that could go is the mandatory death sentence for apostasy, which does not appear in the Koran but is about to be introduced in Turkey's neighbour Iran. How likely is this, and what will its impact be? The Times' Michael Binyon unpacks it, below. 

Sharia in Iran: 'Death to converts'

Life in Iran, in particular for women, can already be pretty grim, as the blog from which this picture was taken testifies. But it is about to get a whole lot worse. For just about everybody. The Iranian parliament is discussing a new penal code, under which citizens who convert from another religion will face execution. The Baha'i community, among the most persecuted of all in Iran as I've reported previously, today described this as a 'gross violation' of Iran's human rights obligations. At the same time, as we report, pollsters YouGovStone have found that nearly one in third of Britain's most influential people welcome the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent intervention on sharia as a useful contribution to the debate.

CofE pays £250,000 for interfaith centre

On seeing the designs for Guildford's new £6.5 million multi-faith centre, funded partly by the Church of England, I had the same sensation as when first setting eyes on the groundbreaking ecumenical church of Christ the Cornerstone in Milton Keynes. That was nearly two decades ago, and was controversial in its day. Thinking back to then, a multifaith centre along the lines of this one would have been simply inconceivable. So whatever the doom-mongers are making of the response to RW on Sharia, things have moved on. (nb have updated post and corrected errors, many apologies, ruth)

Archbishop's Q & A on Sharia

I've obtained a transcript of the Q&A the Archbishop of Canterbury did after last Thursday's lecture. The text throws a little more light on what precisely he was trying to get at. One thing leaped out at me. Although he emphasised again was not talking about 'parallel jurisdictions', he did say he wanted  'to look for parallel situations'.  And he did also advocate 'supplementary jurisdiction' to the law of the state. As Melanie Phillips said on last night's Question Time, there really is not that great a distinction between a parallel and a supplementary jurisdiction. I draw your attention once again to Mary Ann Sieghart's article, which gets to the heart of why so many have been so offended by Dr Rowan Williams' remarks. Lapido Media in its blog believes the Archbishop has done the world a favour by 'dropping a bomb' on multiculturalism.

Graham Dow: UK Government a 'Revelation 13' Govt

The Bishop of Carlisle has the 'number' of Gordon Brown's government, it seems. At the General Synod launch today of God, Gays and the Church, which we previewed on our front page a few days ago, he was told that many church members feel helpless in the face of the gay rights agenda and was asked what they could do to counter the trend. Bishop Graham Dow responded: 'The challenge is to be brave and bolder than we have been, keeping the issue in the public domain, not falling into the trap of being aggressive. We will be called homophobic consantly.'

He went on to say: 'I happen to believe that our Government is moving into the realm of imposing its morality and it has therefore become a Revelation 13 Government rather than a Romans 13 Government.
In the view of the Book of Revelation, the Roman Empire had become a demonic beast and was imposing its morality.'

Readers of this blog will of course be familiar with Revelation 13, its seven headed beast, mouth speaking blasphemies, the number of the beast, bar codes and so forth.

Sharia show shuts down? No it doesn't. Bad luck Rowan.

Despite the best efforts of the LamPal staff and the General Synod to pretend Rowan didn't say what they knew perfectly well he had, this story has legs again. According to The Telegraph, which we followed up for later editions, the Queen is anxious now about the Archbishop of Canterbury. She is worried about the "fall-out" from the row. I imagine she fears the authority of his office has been undermined. Which of course it has. And no doubt she's been deluged with emails from bishops in the many Commonwealth countries with large Muslim populations. I did a video vox-pop yesterday of General Synod members about Rowan Williams. The comment of Willesden's Pete Broadbent, first up, might not surprise some of you...

Tom Butler tells clergy: say no to sharia

The Bishop of Southwark, Dr Tom Butler, has written to his clergy, telling them he does not believe sharia is an option for the UK. Here is his letter:

Message from Bishop Tom to the parishes of Southwark Diocese

'The Archbishop of Canterbury in a lecture at the Royal Courts of Justice, on Thursday raised the question of making available to members of minorities some aspects of religious law to supplement the civil law. He suggested, for example, that members of the Muslim community might be permitted to follow rulings of the Shari'a applying to areas of family law. The Archbishop made it clear that he was not calling for Shari'a to be applicable to non-Muslims, nor was he advocating the introduction of its punitive sanctions.

PTL! Someone agrees with Rowan

At last, in the interests of balance, I can report that someone agrees with the Archbishop of Canterbury on the introduction of parts of sharia law into Britain. Support for the beleagured Archbishop has come in from Hizb ut-Tahrir . But the overwhelming response has been negative, as our news story today makes clear.

Has the Archbishop gone bonkers?

Forgive the stark clarity of my headline, but sometimes when writing about the Archbishop of Canterbury, clarity is what is needed. I ask this of readers here, because this is the question put to me time after time this afternoon by incredulous commentators of every variety, stunned into blunt expression by the Archbishop of Canterbury's uncharacteristically clear comments on Sharia in Britain. The Archbishop believes adopting aspects of sharia law into British law would help maintain social cohesion. But who exactly is asking for this? No Muslim organisation in Britain has requested it, I could not find any who even wanted it. Instead, Muslims I spoke to this afternoon seem fearful of the effects the Archbishop's latest remarks will have on those already prejudiced against their community. As well they might be. His speech was delivered this evening at the Royal Courts of Justice in Strand, London. (Update: do read this interesting analaysis from Propaganda Box.)

Rochester, Oxford and the 'call to prayer'

As we report today, the Rector of St Aldates Oxford, Charlie Cleverley, has been attacking the plans for a thrice-daily 'call to prayer' in Oxford, plans which the Bishop of Oxford, John Pritchard, has supported. Some of the comments on ThisisOxfordshire make interesting reading. Dr Nazir-Ali, who made headlines with his comments that some parts of Britain were becoming no-go areas for non-Muslims, and has criticised permitting the azan in Britain, also spoke at the Oxford Union last night. A mole in the audience sent me some of his remarks, which I've reproduced below.

Islam neo-puritan trends 'barbaric' says ABC at HMD

Interviewed for BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme, the Archbishop of Canterbury covered a range of topics, including the Anglican Communion and Lambeth, and his full comments are below. But speaking about Islam, he spoke of 'neo-puritan Salafi, Wahhabi trends which wipe out Islamic history and make Islam something rather barbaric.' He was saying this at Holocaust Memorial Day in Liverpool, where the Muslim Council of Britain had a representative, assistant gen sec Tahir Alam, for the first time. My own contribution to HMD was to interview Yona Metzter, Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel. (Irene's linked to it on her blog.) If you go to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website, you can virtually light this candle. (HT to little green footballs.)

Caterpillar breakthrough in Gaza

Ah, now, what is this? Could it a Caterpillar, creeping up on me? Read our report of who is actually using this fearsome weapon of modern mass destruction in our article on TimesOnline. Actually, today for once it is a case of thank God for these bulldozers. Those poor beleagured occupants of Gaza can now, thanks to the destruction of the wall between Gaza and Egypt, actually get something to eat and drink. Who now remembers the days when juicy, succulent cherry tomotoes grew all over Gaza? Long gone, sadly. Gaza's occupants now have to break down walls to get anything to eat at all, never mind tomatoes, while Sderot suffers bombs raining down upon it daily. Thank heavens the Church of England did not succeed in its attempt to promote disinvestment. The US Methodists are still trying, but once they see how useful these machines are to the Palestinians, I am sure they'll desist. One of my first ever blogs was about the Caterpillar debate. Things have moved on since then, and Muslims are now complaining that we in the media don't give fair coverage to the Palestinians. Read on for their complaint in full.

Jesuits warn against demonising Islam

After a week of discussions behind closed doors, Jesuits from around the world meeting in Rome will tomorrow elect their new leader, known as the 'Black Pope' because of the robes he wears, in contrast to the white worn by the Pope. To the regret of many, the Jesuits no longer wield the kind of power that earned them this sobriquet, but nevertheless were still warned by Cardinal Rode earlier this week to remember that they were the servants of the Church, and not the other way around. By coincidence, in London this evening, the order's British religious are launching their new online journal, which carries an interesting article calling for tolerance to be shown towards Islam by Australian Jesuit Father Dan Madigan. Read our report on the faith page.

Benazir: 'I am not afraid of death'

'I am not afraid of death,' Benazir Bhutto told me when I interviewed her for the Daily Mail in November 1985. She was just 31 at the time. 'My religion teaches that I will rejoin my father and my brother when I die. It is the living who have to suffer the grief and the pain,' she said. In an attempt to pay tribute, although nothing I can say will ever be enough, I've reproduced the full interview below.

UK Imam's daughter gets death threats for apostasy

An imam's daughter who converted to Christianity after fleeing an arranged marriage is under police protection after receiving death threats from her family. Read our exclusive report on this at Times Online. The story of Hannah, aged 32, will be unveiled tomorrow at the launch of a new charity, Lapido Media, in London. The aim of the charity is to promote religious literacy in world affairs. I spoke to Hannah, who uses a pseudonym, earlier today. Her story is chilling, and provides a sobering reflection on what it is to be Muslim, or a Muslim convert to Christianity, in Britain today. Also today, as we report, Saga have released a poll showing how many over-50s are worried about the downgrading of Christianity in society, and MPs at Parliament have debated whether there is Christianophobia in the UK.

'Islam' and the teddy bear

The Muslim Council of Britain has at long last seen sense and voted to end its boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day. The council might have done so last year, and came under pressure from Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly to do so. That it did not was partly because it did not want to be seen to cave into government pressure, but it is still likely that some organisations might leave the council now. The next HMD will be in Liverpool on 27 January. Had the vote, which took place over the weekend, gone the other way, I understand that at least one senior representative would have attended the event in his capacity as a private individual. Most members would still prefer it be called Genocide Memorial Day but have realised that is unlikely to happen, and that the negative effects of the boycott outweighed any impact gained to this end.

Troops in Iraq need more support, says Vicar of Baghdad

You might recognise John Major in the middle of this pic. This was the dinner at Middle Temple last night where Canon Andrew White, who I interviewed earlier this week, was awarded the Pursuer of Peace prize by the Woolf Institute. Canon White talked to me both about the fatwa against violence he is helping negotiate between the two leading Sunni and Shia. Reflecting some of what RC bishop Tom Burns says in a pastoral letter for Remembrance Sunday, he also spoke passionately about the need for more support for British troops in Iraq. We gave extensive coverage in The Times to Dr Denis MacEoin's carefully researched and authoritative report into the 'hijacking of British Islam'. See below for details of another new research project by the Woolf Institute that will explore some similar ground when published in the New Year.