Dhimmitude in the Church of England

At the weekend it was announced that Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali, scourge of Dhimmis and church liberals alike, is resigning his post.

Damian Thompson in The Telegraph hails this move as a 'victory for Islamism'; I fear he is right.
That's not to say I think this is part of some conspiracy on behalf of Muslims - I smell a deeper and more troubling conspiracy on the part of church leaders.

Bishop Nazir-Ali is perhaps the only senior figure in the Church of England who actually understands Islam for what it is, and the threat it can pose to Britain's ancient liberties. Everyone else seems to be under the impression that Muslims believe in the same God, they just go to a mosque on Friday instead of a church on Sunday.

As a Christian who was unfortunate enough to grow up in Pakistan, Bishop Nazir-Ali knows that is simply untrue. He also knows the ravages which Sharia law leaves, no matter how rich or strong the culture and values it is imposed over - in short, he knows that Sharia is simply incompatible not only with British law but British life.

Is it a coincidence then that on the very day Bishop Nazir-Ali announced his resignation, his erstwhile boss, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, leader of the Church of England, made a statement praising Muslims for "bringing religion and ethics back into public life."

He continued:

"I think Islam has made a very significant contribution to getting a debate about religion into public life. And I think it's very right that we should have these debates and discussions between Muslims and Christians and others in public."

Williams called for bolstering Muslim-Christian cooperation to serve the well being of the whole community.

"The idea that what's good for me and what's good for you belongs together," he said.

"Both Muslims and Christians have a very strong sense of God's will being done in community, when we really follow the needs of the community and work for one another on that in the will of God."

"We've got to deal with it and complicated questions, but we have to make good neighbors."

The Anglican leader, however, admitted that the Christian Muslim Forum, which he initiated in 2001 for bringing UK Muslims and Christians together, had not reached the grassroots so far.

"The conversation of the elite and intellectuals isn't in itself going to change anything," he pointed out.

"We've got to deal with it and complicated questions, but we have to make good neighbors."

Yes, I'm very grateful for the debate that Muslims have brought into public life. Tell me, would that be the 'respect Islam or you're dead' debate or 'the UK will submit to Islam' debate?

Perhaps the 'despite living off the generosity of the British taxpayer, I hate Britain and all it stands for and wish to see its citizens/soldiers dead and its ancient laws/customs/liberties destroyed' debate?

Because if you'll excuse me, Archbishop, I generally see only one significant group making 'bad neighbours'. Incidentally, it's the very same group that has a choice - plenty of countries have instituted Sharia law, if they really find being here that difficult.

How do you feel about the fact that when your churches and congregations are stoned, your vicars beaten, the police just aren't as interested as they would be if it were happening to a mosque and an imam?

Good relations are fostered by treating people fairly and equally. Islam wants more than that, however - it wants to be supreme.

Men like Rowan Williams seemingly want to let it.

Here is a so-called 'moderate' Islamic preacher, an Egyptian called Amr Khalid, letting Egyptian television know what he really thinks.

He is spreading the idea that all of the controversies surrounding Islam in Europe, from the Mohammed cartoons controversy to Fitna, are part of an orchestrated plan to make Muslims so angry and violent we have an excuse to expell them.

At least he credits us with being able to see the danger Europe's 30 million Muslims potentially pose. Here's the video:

So in other words, he puts the whole of Europe into the role of Yugoslavia during the break-up, and every Muslim into the role of a Bosnian.

If these sorts of lies begin to take hold in the Islamic world, what's next? We all know what happened in Bosnia - thousands of foreign fighters, Muslims all, answered the call to help their 'brothers'.

If this video is taken literally, it means that any European citizen is a legitimate target for violent retribution for a supposed conspiracy.

Is the contribution which Islam is making to Western society really such that we can afford to overlook these dangers?

Williams might think so, but then he's always had his head rather firmly in the clouds - he is a lifelong member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and was during the height of the Soviet threat.

Isn't appeasing and recasting Islam as a religion of peace and love simply another manifestation of that delusional idealism?

For all our sakes I hope the answer isn't yes - but I fear it is.