Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali. Photo by Sue CarelessOne of the Anglican Communion’s most prominent bishops has announced that he will resign a decade early in order to serve the persecuted church in Islamic regions. Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, 59, surprised Anglicans around the world on March 28^th when he announced his retirement as Bishop of Rochester, England, effective September 1st. He had been ‘runner up’ for the post of Archbishop of Canterbury but lost to Dr. Rowan Williams. The Church of England’s only Asian bishop intends to use his expertise as an Islamic scholar to work in Pakistan where he was born and in the Middle East to build bridges between Christians and Muslims.

Commentary by Andrew Carey

Nazir-Ali will be missed. First of all, his loss to the House of Bishops and central structures of the Church of England is immeasurable. His contribution to ecumenical dialogues such as the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission gives the lie to the conclusion drawn by many that he was a ‘conservative evangelical.’

His contributions to General Synod were always measured and deeply intelligent on a range of subjects. Who can forget the theological exchanges on the Nicene Creed between Bishop Nazir-Ali and Professor Anthony Thisleton during the revision of Common Worship?

But it is in two areas that his contribution will be most missed. First of all, he stood out among the Bishops with his brilliant theological acumen allied to a very broad hinterland of knowledge ranging from international politics, Islam, bioethics and ecumenism to take but a few examples. Like the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, he could say penetrating things about [Britain’s] Christian heritage which had greater impact than if a white bishop had said the same thing.

Furthermore the House of Bishops itself will be destabilized and unbalanced by his loss. There are very few bishops with quite the same theologically-rigorous and principled orthodoxy. There is clearly now a very strongly-committed liberal tendency in the House of Bishops. And one of the main opposition voices has been lost. And in this theological opposition to the liberal tendency to capitulate to contemporary culture, he was able to represent those of us who feel a similar concern from evangelical, anglo-catholic and middle-of-the-road churchmanships.

It is his contribution on behalf of the national Church on the subject of Islam for which he will be most missed by many of us. Let us not forget that while his comments on ‘no-go’ areas in Muslim-dominated places were harshly criticised in some quarters, he had always been a key adviser within the Church of England on Muslim-Christian dialogue. He played a significant part in building up the dialogue between the Church of England and Muslims.

So in a sense, he had earned the right to say such critical things about the dangers of Islamism. He had experienced persecution both in Pakistan and latterly death threats in England. There were few other people who could have had the credibility to challenge the nation about the dangers of extremism and the way in which multi-culturalism had fuelled Islamism.

Yet in his views and statements on Islam he was consistently briefed against by the Church of England establishment, even at a time when he and his own family were under police protection.

Sadly, there are signs that the church hierarchy is so keen to avoid causing any offence to their Muslim counterparts that they downplay incidents of attacks on churches by Islamists in Britain and they fail to speak up on behalf of persecuted Christian minorities in other countries.

It is to his credit that Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali has decided to take on this mission himself. I, for one, hope that he will continue to be robustly and loyally critical about the direction of the Anglican Communion, even while he attends to this far more important task of training and supporting minorities, and Christian converts from Islam.

–Church of England Newspaper