Christians Urge Continued Interfaith Engagement Following Latest Terrorist Threat

Senior interfaith officials within the Church of England have called for the Christian community across England to play an important role to ensure that the Muslim community does not become demonised or alienated following the thwarted terrorist plans to attack aircraft departing the UK bound for the US, last week.

|PIC1|Dominic Moghal is a consultant to the Bishop of Bradford on interfaith matters, and he co-ordinates an interfaith project in the city. Moghal told of the consequences if a break occurred in communications and engagement between the Christian and Muslim communities.

In urging Christian groups to take part in more partnerships and interfaith works with the Muslim communities, Moghal said, “We need to reassure the Muslim community and make a distinction between extremists and the wider Muslim community.”

He continued, “The Church needs to make sure it does not isolate Muslims and make unhelpful generalisations, like President Bush did when he used the term ‘Muslim fascists’,” according to the Church of England newspaper.

“I strongly believe we can only fight this problem together and instead of isolating Muslims we need to engage with them.”

After some commentators had suggested introducing a scheme of passenger profiling at airports which specifically singled-out Muslims for security checks, Moghal replied, “This would not be helpful as it would lead to more isolation of Muslims. We need to broaden our horizons and make sure we don’t demonise Muslims.”

|TOP|Just in May 2006, Prince Charles launched a new venue in London to be used as a meeting place for members of different religions to explore common challenges and undertake scriptural exploration with a view to fostering peace and reconciliation.

The centre had been set up in the grounds of the former St Ethelburga’s Church, which was rebuilt after an IRA bomb destroyed most of the building in 1993. Prince Charles had in fact returned to unveil the new venue following his inauguration of the rebuilt church as a centre for peace and reconciliation in 2002.

At that time, the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, said: “Part of the gospel agenda in London is to find fresh ways of relating to our neighbours who practice other faiths. An introverted and fearful church is a poor witness to Jesus Christ.”

Supporting the views of Moghal was the National Advisor to the Church of England on interfaith relations, Rev Guy Wilkinson.|AD|

Rev Wilkinson, who is a former Archdeacon in Bradford, emphasised that it was vital for there to be no reflex response to the terrorist threat unveiled to the pubic last week.

In calling for the churches to continue their interfaith works as normal, Rev Wilkinson added, “The important thing is the underlying level of work carries on, and that we don’t start dreaming up new initiatives, but keep maintaining dialogue and the existing relationships we already have with different faith groups, not just focusing on the Muslim community,” according to the Church of England newspaper.

He said, “We need to maintain the relationships which have been developed between faiths and not allow them to wither due to these recent events.”

Meanwhile senior Muslim clerics have joined the calls for more co-operation between faiths to tackle the problem of extremism.

Writing for the Church of England Newspaper, Ibrahim Mogra, chairman of the interfaith relations committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, called for help from “Christian brothers and sisters in dealing with the sources of anger and frustration among Muslims.”