Britain is suffering because we have been too willing to forget what made us who we are, writes Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali.

“I have resigned as Bishop of Rochester after nearly 15 years. During that time, I have watched the nation drift further and further away from its Christian moorings. Instead of the spiritual and moral framework provided by the Judaeo-Christian tradition, we have been led to expect, and even to celebrate, mere diversity. Not surprisingly, this has had the result of loosening the ties of law, customs and values, and led to a gradual loss of identity and of cohesiveness. Every society, for its wellbeing, needs the social capital of common values and the recognition of certain virtues which contribute to personal and social flourishing. Our ideas about the sacredness of the human person at every stage of life, of equality and natural rights and, therefore, of freedom, have demonstrably arisen from the tradition rooted in the Bible.”

See the excellent full article and the comments at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5109443/Ignore-our-Christian-values-and-the-nation-will-drift-apart.html

The Diocesan Director of Ministry and I met with Bishop Michael in 2006 at his home in Rochester. It was one of the most stimulating and disturbing conversations that we engaged in during our study tour. Bishop Michael has written a fuller treatment of this topic in a new book, ISLAM: Human Rights and Public Policy, David Claydon (Ed), Acorn Press 2009. I will refer to this book’s significance in a separate post.