Michael Nazir-Ali

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)

Michael Nazir-Ali

Denomination	Anglican
Senior posting
See	Rochester
Title	Bishop of Rochester
Period in office	1994 — present
Consecration	1984
Predecessor	Anthony Michael Arnold Turnbull
Successor	Incumbent
Religious career
Priestly ordination	1976
Previous bishoprics	Bishop of Raiwind Assistant Bishop of Southwark
Previous post	Assistant Bishop of Southwark
Personal
Date of birth	19 August 1949 (1949-08-19) (age 58)
Place of birth	Karachi

Michael James Nazir-Ali (born 19 August 1949) is the Pakistani-born 106th and current Bishop of Rochester in the Church of England. He holds dual Pakistani and British citizenship.

Contents 1 Background 2 Academic career 3 Family 4 Ecclesiastical and public career 5 Opinions 6 Publications 7 Notes 8 External links

[edit] Background

Michael Nazir-Ali was born in Karachi, Pakistan to Christian parents, James and Patience Nazir-Ali^[1]. He comes from a Christian family background.^[2] He attended the Roman Catholic-run St Patrick's school in Karachi and began attending Roman Catholic services and identifying as Christian at the age of 15; he was formally received into the Church of Pakistan aged 20.^[3]

[edit] Academic career

Bishop Nazir-Ali attended Saint Patrick's High School, Karachi, read economics, Islamic history, and sociology at the University of Karachi (BA 1970) and studied in preparation for ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge (1970). He undertook further postgraduate studies in theology at St Edmund Hall, Oxford (BLitt 1974, MLitt 1981), Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (MLitt 1976), and the Australian College of Theology (ThD 1983). He has also studied at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School and in 2005 he was awarded the Lambeth DD. He has a number of other doctorates. His particular academic interests include comparative literature and comparative philosophy of religion. In addition to teaching appointments in colleges and universities in many parts of the world, he has been a tutor in the University of Cambridge, Senior Tutor of Karachi Theological College, and Visiting Professor of Theology and Religious Studies in the University of Greenwich. He has been elected an Honorary Fellow of his colleges at Oxford (St Edmund Hall) and Cambridge (Fitzwilliam). From 1986 until 1989, while he was Assistant to the Archbishop of Canterbury and Co-ordinator of Studies and Education for the Lambeth Conference, he was Honorary Curate of Oxford St Giles and St Philip and St James with St Margaret.

[edit] Family

Bishop Nazir-Ali met his wife, Valerie Cree, who is English, in Cambridge, and married her in 1972. They have two sons, Shammy (Shamoun) and Ross,^[4] both now adults.

His pastimes include hockey, cricket, table tennis, and Scrabble, as well as writing poetry in English and Persian and listening to music. He was the sole UK bishop in a 1997 poll who could name all five members of the Spice Girls.^[5] He says. "The original Spice Girls are in the Gospels. They are the women who took spices to the tomb of Christ and found it empty: the two Marys, Salome and Joanna."^[6]

[edit] Ecclesiastical and public career

He was ordained an Anglican priest in 1976 and worked in Karachi and Lahore, and became the first Bishop of Raiwind in West Punjab (1984-86) — at the time, the youngest bishop in the Anglican Communion. When his life was endangered in Pakistan in 1986^[7], Robert Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury, arranged for his refuge in England. Nazir-Ali says, "...the reason behind some of the difficulties I was facing was removed when General Zia was killed - unfortunately for him, and I am now not doing the work that I was doing at the time with the very poor." ^[8] . He became an assistant to the Archbishop at Lambeth and assisted with the planning of the 1988 Lambeth Conference; he was General Secretary of the Church Mission Society 1989-1994 and concurrently Assistant Bishop of Southwark. He was appointed Bishop of Rochester, England in 1994, and in 1999 entered the House of Lords as one of the "Lords Spiritual" because of his seniority in episcopal office, the first religious leader from Asia to serve there. He will cease to be a member of the House of Lords upon retirement. He was suggested as a possible Archbishop of Canterbury but was passed over in favour of Rowan Williams.

Between 1997 and 2003. he was chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's ethics and law committee. He is a leader of the Network for Inter-faith Concerns of the Anglican Communion.^[9]

[edit] Opinions

Bishop Nazir-Ali is generally on the evangelical wing of the Anglican Church, describing himself as "evangelical and catholic." He appointed the first woman archdeacon in the Church of England,^[10] and opposes the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions. Bishop Nazir-Ali has become a prominent spokesman for an engagement between Christianity and Islam. Frequently quoted in the press, Nazir-Ali has sided with conservatives in the Anglican Communion in their opposition to the recognition of gay relationships. He has advocated more effective integration of ethnic communities within the UK and has been critical of the Canadian-style concept of multiculturalism, urging that Britons take greater pride in their authentic cultural inheritance and that Britain and Britons take greater pains fully to integrate immigrants into the general community.

He was one of the bishops who signed a letter against Rowan Williams' appointment of the Reverend Dr Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading in 2003. The others were the Bishops of Bradford, Carlisle, Chester, Chichester, Exeter, Liverpool, Southwell and Winchester.

In October 2007, he told the Daily Telegraph that he would not attend the 2008 Lambeth Conference because he would find it "very difficult" to be in Council with bishops who had consecrated Gene Robinson.^[11]

In 2000, Nazir-Ali wrote,

It is very important for the Church to continue saying that having children and their nurture is a basic good of marriage and not an optional extra. Just as a marriage is not complete without mutual support, companionship and love, so there is a real lack if the intention is never to have children, regardless of circumstances. This signals that marriage is not a matter of self-indulgence. In our age, such teaching is crucial."^[6]

Because of this statement, it is claimed that Nazir-Ali believed that married couples had a duty to have children, and those who remained childless were "self-indulgent"^[12] Although he views having children a basic part of a good marriage, he has denied ever labeling couples who did not have children "self-indulgent".^[10], claiming it was "pure invention."^[6]

In November 2006 Nazir-Ali criticised the "dual psychology" of some Muslims who seek both "victimhood and domination". He said it would never be possible to satisfy all of the demands made by Muslims because "their complaint often boils down to the position that it is always right to intervene when Muslims are victims... and always wrong when Muslims are the oppressors or terrorists". In reference to conflict in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan, he said "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 response, the Muslim Council of Britain said "We would normally expect a bishop to display more humility and work towards bringing communities closer together rather than contributing towards fostering greater divisions."^[2]

In January 2008 Nazir-Ali wrote that Islamic extremism had turned "already separate communities into 'no-go' areas" and claimed that there had been attempts to "impose an 'Islamic' character on certain areas", citing the amplification of the call to prayer from mosques as an example^[13]. He criticised the government's integration policy as "an agenda which still lacks the underpinning of a moral and spiritual vision", and asked that the government make a public affirmation of the "Christian roots of British society". These comments resulted in some debate and criticism, including a response from the Muslim Council of Britain, who said the mosque call was no different from church bells ringing, and Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, who described the claims as "a gross caricature of reality". Conservative home affairs spokesman David Davis said the bishop had rightly drawn attention to a "deeply serious problem" and that Labour's support for multiculturalism risked creating a situation of "voluntary apartheid".^[14] The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears responded to Nazir-Ali's comments by stating that Britain was a "secular democracy", and challenged him to name specific 'no go' areas.^[15] but the Chair of the Equality Commission, Trevor Phillips, agreed with his analysis of the situation. Nazir-Ali has since received death threats against himself and his family, and he is now under escort by the Kent police; however, he says his "overflowing postbag" has been "overwhelmingly supportive". ^[16][17]

In the June 2008 issue of Standpoint magazine,^[18] Nazir Ali claimed that the decline of Christianity and the rise of liberal values in the UK during the 1960s had created a moral vacuum which 'Radical Islam' is filling. He ends: "We have argued that it is necessary to understand where we have come from, to guide us to where we are going, and to bring us back when we wander too far from the path of national destiny". The Daily Mail in its leader article of 28 May 2008^[19] commended Nazir-Ali's viewpoint.

[edit] Publications

Bishop Nazir-Ali's published writings include the following:

• Islam: A Christian Perspective (1983)
• Frontiers in Christian-Muslim Encounters (1987)
• From Everywhere to Everywhere: A World View of Christian Mission (1990)
• Thinking globally, acting locally (1992)
• Mission and Dialogue: Proclaiming the Gospel Afresh in Every Age (1995)
• The Mystery of Faith (1995)
• Citizens and Exiles: Christian Faith in a Plural World (2000)
• Shapes of the Church to Come (2001)
• Understanding My Muslim Neighbour (2003)
• Conviction And Conflict: Islam, Christianity And World Order (2005)

and many other articles in newspapers and journals

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Biography of Nazir-Ali from the Diocese of Rochester
• Original Source article - Extremism flourished as UK lost Christianity (Sunday Telegraph 7 January 2008)
• Profile: Michael Nazir-Ali (BBC News 6 January 2008)
• Bishop warns of 'Islamic areas' (BBC 6 January 2008)
• Blair 'nutter' fear angers bishop (BBC 25 November 2007)
• Bishop against 'IVF for lesbians' (BBC 14 September 2007)
• Bishop warns of extremist dangers (BBC 31 December 2006)
• Bishop calls for veil legislation (BBC 24 December 2006)

v • d • e Bishops of Rochester since 1908 John Reginald Harmer • Martin Linton Smith • Christopher Maude Chavasse • David Say • Anthony Michael Arnold Turnbull • Michael Nazir-Ali •