A retired Church of England Bishop says secularism 'has failed spectacularly in relating to people of faith'. Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester for 15 years until his retirement in 2009, was speaking in a lecture at the School of Oriental and African Studies, reported in Eastern Eye.
Nazir-Ali,
who was the first non-white Diocesan Bishop in the C of E said, 'What has
isolated communities is a lack of any sense of a common citizenship in the
nation... Doctrines of multiculturalism, for instance, have simply allowed
people to be on their own.'
He
suggested that secularism wasn't able to cope with complex religious and
cultural identities. 'What we need are policies that respect culture and respect
religion, but at the same time encourage common citizenship – a common
language.'
Nazir-Ali,
who was born in Pakistan and whose father was a convert to Christianity from
Islam, is often seen as a conservative voice within the Church. He called for
inter-faith dialogue to continue in earnest to make us accountable to other
people. 'Interfaith dialogue is very important so that we can bring our concerns
to one another,' the Bishop said. 'We live in a world where religions have to be
accountable so they are accountable at the bar of world opinion; that is what
interfaith dialogue should be about: accountability to one another.'
Nazir-Ali
cautioned that the UK should not abandon its Christian heritage. 'If you don't
know your own spiritual tradition, how are you going to understand other
people's?' he asked. 'I think secularism has failed spectacularly in relating to
people of faith.'