The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has spoken of his personal hope for peace and an increased recognition of the positive contribution of faith communities in everyday life.
Speaking to The Big Issue on the eve of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Dr Williams expressed his hope in particular for an end to the crisis in Israel and Palestine, for a full and proper debate on Britain's nuclear weapons systems and for more reasoned debate about the value and place of faith in public life.
"I hope we have a proper debate in this country about the upgrading of the Trident missile system, and about our whole nuclear policy - and personally I hope it results in the brakes being put on before we commit astronomical sums to this system," he said.
On the crisis in Israel and Palestine, the Archbishop warned, "We're near a moment of irreversible tipping over into chaos."
He continued: "There's no renouncing of terror tactics; there's no strengthening of responsible authority in the Palestinian regions; the 'security fence' continues to grow, with all the consequences for local communities; and there seems to be a baffling lack of strategy about regional security."
The Archbishop of Canterbury also called for a change in attitude to issues of faith in public life which have recently dominated newspaper headlines, as he commented that the last couple of months had felt "rather surreal".
"'Faith communities' and 'faith schools' are suddenly a matter for panic. We're supposed to believe that our society - which, of course, left to itself is naturally harmonious and just - is threatened with unspeakable disruption and division by religious fanatics who want partnership between statutory authorities and their own religious communities in education, or by tiresome zealots with no sense of humour who want to display signs of their most important personal allegiance.
"It's pointless getting a persecution complex about this. But perhaps we might be allowed to ask for a bit of a reality check here - even to hope for a bit of recognition of how much basic bottom-line work for cohesion and access and emergency care depends on none other than these 'faith communities' in most of our urban and many of our rural settings. Too much to hope for? Surely not."
The Archbishop of Canterbury is currently taking part in a joint pilgrimage to the Holy Land with fellow presidents of Churches Together in England, the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Free Churches Moderator, the Rev David Coffey, and the Primate of the Armenian Church of Great Britain Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian.
The Church leaders will visit Bethlehem and show solidarity with Christians in the region before their return to the UK on Christmas Eve.
