Well, how refreshing - a churchman making sense for a change!
The Church of England's only Asian bishop has criticised many Muslims for their "dual psychology", in which they desire both "victimhood and domination".
Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, said that because of this view it would never be possible to satisfy all their demands. He said "Their complaint often boils down to the position that it is always right to intervene when Muslims are victims, as in Bosnia or Kosovo, and always wrong when the Muslims are the oppressors or terrorists, as with the Taliban or in Iraq. Given the world view that has given rise to such grievances, there can never be sufficient appeasement and new demands will continue to be made."
In a newspaper interview he went on to say that the failure to counter such beliefs meant radical Islam had flourished in Britain, spread by extremist imams indoctrinating children for up to four hours a day. Rigorous checks, from which the government had retreated in face of Muslims' protests, should be imposed to ensure that arriving clerics were committed to the British way of life.
"Characteristic British values have developed from the Christian faith and its vision of personal and common good. These values need to be recovered to help us to inculcate the virtues of generosity, loyalty, moderation and love."
He proposes that imams who might whip up extremism should be filtered out before they can enter the country. He said "They must be vetted for appropriate qualifications, they must have a reasonable knowledge of the English language and they must take part in a recognised process of learning about British life and culture."
The government, after lobbying from Muslim groups, retreated from proposals to toughen entry requirements put forward by David Blunkett two years ago. Plans to require foreign clerics to sit a test on British civic values a year after arriving were cancelled along with the introduction of a requirement to speak English to conversational level.
Nazir-Ali, 57, was born a Catholic in Karachi, converted to Protestantism and was received into the Church of Pakistan at 20. He settled in Britain in the 1980s and became the youngest bishop in the world at 35.
We've heard a lot recently from immigrants who want to tell us how we should be running this country, so it's both heartening and surprising to hear one who is a pillar of the limp-wristed CofE setting things straight. What a shame our home-grown clerics rarely seem to have the bottle to tell it like it is.
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