Bishop of Rochester to aid persecuted Christians in Islamic world
Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who is about to retire as the Bishop of Rochester, is to set up a charity to work with persecuted Christians in the Islamic world.
Dr Nazir-Ali, who will leave next week a few days after his 60th birthday, says that he has paid a heavy price for standing up for Christian values and has been stung by criticism of some of his controversial statements — but that he has no regrets.
The mission and reputation of the Anglican Church in the Islamic world had been seriously damaged by rows over the ordination of gay priests and bishops and the blessing of same-sex partnerships, he said in an interview with The Times.
“Every time you say something that the Bible teaches or you think is God’s purpose for people, you have to take what comes by way of reaction,” he said. “As I say, it is not easy being a Christian in the world. You have to be prepared for that.”
In January 2008 Dr Nazir-Ali wrote that Islamic extremism had turned “already separate communities into no-go areas”. Earlier this year, on the day the Gay Pride march was held in London, he said homosexuals were among those who should “repent” and be transformed when they fall short of “God’s will”.
An evangelical Catholic whose father was a convert from Islam, he had to leave his birth country of Pakistan in 1986 after receiving death threats for standing up for non-Muslims and for women.
Dr Nazir-Ali said: “I have stood for what the faith teaches in Pakistan, and that has been costly. I have tried to stand for it here. That has been costly. I am aware that being a Christian is not easy. It is difficult. But at the same time, trusting in God, I do and say what I need to.”
He has been torn by the liberal direction of the Church in the West, which has been at odds with his conservative beliefs. Although he denied that this was behind his decision to step down, he received death threats after his comments on “no-go areas”. For that reason, the location of the new home to which he and his wife, Valerie, are moving is being kept secret.
Dr Nazir-Ali wants to help to train Christians in Islamic countries to be lay and ordained leaders. He said: “One reason I have decided to do this is to point by example to the wide and very important mission for the Church in the world and not continually have time and energy consumed by internal squabbling.”
Anglicans are “undoubtedly damaged in the mission sense by what has happened”, he said. “Certainly in the world I am talking about, Anglican credibility has suffered.” He was challenged only last week on the gay debate by a senior government minister in a Muslim country. “When this happens, I say that whatever you hear or read, the teaching of the Bible and the Church remains unchanged.”
He believes his background in Karachi, where he read Islamic history, and his two years as the first Bishop of Raiwind in West Punjab in the 1980s have equipped him uniquely to work with Christians in Muslim countries.
He will draw on his experience of discrimination against Christians in Pakistan, when he was building and opening churches. He worked with bonded labour, fighting for equal pay for women and non-Muslims.
“That was not popular. That was the main reason for having to leave, as is well known. But I continue to engage with these issues.”
He is also in talks with a leading theological college attached to a university — not Oxford — about accreditation for the courses he will be offering.
“The overall point is to enable countries and religious communities to agree on and then respect fundamental freedoms, freedom of belief and expression and freedom to change your belief. In terms of churches, I am very concerned that they should be strengthened to live in their very demanding contexts."