A bishop speaks....

...and is punished for so doing.

Michael Nazir-Ali, the successor (after a fashion) of St. John Fisher, is one of the few bishops of the Church of England with a backbone.

He is also one of the few English bishops willing to tell it like it is, instead of concealing the truth not only from the British public but from himself as well because the facts happen to run contrary to the nostrums of political correctness.

On the feast of the Epiphany this year, the Sunday Telegraph published an article by bishop Nazir-Ali, in which he warned of Islamic extremism having turned “already separate communities into ‘no-go’ areas where adherence to this ideology has become a mark of acceptability”.

The shrill cries of horror were not long in coming. Melancholicus was awakened by them on Sunday morning listening to the news on BBC Radio 4. The BBC, which has of late developed a habit of cosseting the Mohammedans, was clearly disapproving of the bishop’s remarks. “Calamity” Clegg, the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, helpfully dismissed the bishop’s thesis as “a gross caricature of reality”, although Melancholicus would have thought that phrase more accurately epitomised whatever passes for thought inside Mr. Clegg’s head. The Mohammedans, predictably, reacted with displeasure, although Melancholicus supposes (somewhat sourly) that they ought to be praised for not rioting in the streets or setting fire to cars or beheading people in their outrage at the spotlight shone on their antics by the bishop. In fact, none of the statements released by Mohammedan organisations reacting to the bishop’s article were quite as hysterical as the response of Mr. Clegg, although one group, the Ramadhan Foundation, did go as far as to call for Dr. Nazir-Ali’s resignation on the grounds of “inciting religious hatred” (whatever that means).

It shows how far British society has succumbed to the tyranny of “multiculturalism”, when an organisation set up to represent an alien religion can with impunity demand the resignation of a bishop of the established church!

Bishop Nazir-Ali’s article is important and will repay study, so Melancholicus has taken the liberty of reproducing the offending text in full below (original here).

Extremism flourished as UK lost Christianity

By Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester

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.

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.

Amen. Melancholicus is worried about the frail condition of the Church of England, and by the current weakness of the Anglican communion as a whole. In traditionally protestant countries such as England, the established church has an important role to fulfil in society. To the degree that it is impeded (or allows itself to be impeded) in the discharge of this role, the whole of the society committed to its care will be weakened as a result. The English Church needs more prelates with the mettle of Michael Nazir-Ali, who will fearlessly diagnose the serious problems facing Christian civilisation rather than pretending they don’t exist. Without such leadership, the Church will continue to erase itself from existence and what, pray, will fill the vacuum left behind it when it’s gone? The Mohammedans are already bold enough to publicly recommend that Britain adopt Islamic values. Hazel Blears told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 that she was proud that Britain was a “secular democracy” with a strong tradition of allowing people freedom to worship in their own way. But this completely misses the point. It is not an issue of allowing the Mohammedans freedom of religion. The post-Christian British seem to be so secure in their secularism that they cannot imagine themselves ever being threatened by a religious ideology, even in the onset of a greater threat to the stability of British society than was posed by World War II!

Time is a great teacher. Unfortunately by the time the lesson is finally learned, it may well be too late.