The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, found himself at the centre of controversy for much of the past week after asserting that Islamic extremism was creating "no-go areas" for people of different faiths in Britain.
Christian Today spoke to the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Rev Nicholas Reade, whose diocese is home to a large Muslim population, to find out his views on Bishop Nazir-Ali's comments and the state of relations between Christians and local Muslims.
CT: Do you agree with the Bishop of Rochester that areas with a high Muslim population are becoming "no-go areas" for Christians?
NR: I think one thing that has to be said is that the majority of immigration to Britain is from other European countries and Africa and Asia and they are bringing the rich treasures of their Christian faith. Many of them are Roman Catholic and so the Roman Catholic Church is experiencing a rise in membership. The view that the people who are packing into this country are of religions other than Christianity is absolute nonsense.
In my own Diocese of Blackburn we have got areas with a high Muslim population but we have absolutely no no-go areas. We can go everywhere. We have extremely good relations with the Muslim communities.
CT: Some Muslims responding to the Bishop's comments said they felt inter-faith relations had vastly improved in the last 10 years. Is that your experience?
NR: That is absolutely the case. We have churches in areas with a high number of Muslims and people often say 'oh it must be difficult to preach the gospel'. The Church has got to accept that if you are the church in an area with a high Muslim population, then the church isn't there to evangelise in the traditional sense but to dialogue and build relationships. The church's mission in these areas is presence and engagement and dialogue and faith-sharing, building friendships, and I feel that is very much the case.
For example, we have an Anglican-Muslim group; we had a feast in a mosque in Blackburn in the summer; we had 500 Christian people going into a mosque where they prepared a great meal and we watched Muslims at prayer; at our cathedral one of our staff members is a Muslim lady; at Christmas time I went to one of our church schools and there was a very high percentage of Muslim students and they were acting in a Nativity play!
So there are many good things. I think it is easier to blame the dilution of Christianity in Britain on the arrival of other faiths but the real cause is secularism. There is a lot of exaggeration but also a lot of very good news.
