No more mosques, says senior Church of England Synod member

At least somebody is thinking around here!

From Turkey, to Egypt, to Jordan, to Malaysia, to Indonesia, to Algeria to Saudi Arabia, to Iran and Iraq Christians are treated like criminals. In Turkey converts to Christianity are imprisoned (and note - they want to join the EU); in Egypt converts to Christianity are imprisoned and tortured and have their rights restricted - such as passports confiscated or denied the right to change their religion; in Algeria it is possible to spend up to five years in prison for having religious books/material other than Islamic and churches have been closed there to stop the increasing numbers of conversions away from Islam; in Saudi Arabia converts are falsely accused of insulting Islam or the Koran then beheaded, there in not a single church in that country - and bibles are taken off travellers at the airport; in Jordan - moderate Jordan – a group of Christian aid workers were expelled from that country for illegally 'spreading the word'; in Malaysia (truly Asia) bibles have been confiscated at the airports; in Iran – whose parliament was told that there is an exodus leaving Islam - of one million or more (official figures) - are now trying to decide whether they should put them to death - i.e. issue the death penalty for conversion; in Iraq churches are targeted and clergy are kidnapped and killed; in Indonesia, converts are forced to go to re-education detention centers to relearn Islam, marriages between husbands and wives of different faiths are deemed illegal and the children are taken as the parents are imprisoned; in the Maldives it is no longer possible to be a Christian or non-Muslim and be a Maldives citizen [boycott them].

While all this is going on - money from these groups are coming in to fund mosques in Europe - radicalising the Muslim populations here. Somewhere in there we have go to say - what are you going to do for us? What are we going to get in return?

A senior lay member of the Church of England's "Parliament" has called for a ban on the building of more mosques in Britain.

Alison Ruoff, a long-standing member of the General Synod, said that new mosques should not be built in this country while Islamic states continued to persecute Christians.

The former magistrate, who was one of the strongest critics of the Archbishop of Canterbury's speech on Islamic law earlier this year, added that sharia would be introduced into Britain "if we don't watch out".

Apart from being a Synod member, Mrs Ruoff, a conservative evangelical, also sits on the Bishop's Council, which advises the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres.

Although her views are representative of a small minority on the Synod, and Church spokesmen moved quickly to isolate her yesterday, they may exacerbate tensions over the place of Muslims in society.

A spokesman for the Diocese of London said: "Mrs Ruoff's comments are her own and do not reflect the views of the Diocese of London, which enjoys excellent inter-faith relations across the capital."

A Church of England spokesman added: "These are her personal comments, speaking as an individual." But senior Muslims had already reacted angrily to her comments, saying they were more typical of a member of the British National Party than the Anglican Church.

Mrs Ruoff, speaking in an interview with Premier Radio, the Christian radio station, said: "No more mosques in the UK. We are constantly building new mosques, which are paid for by the money that comes from oil states.

"We have only in this country, as far as we know, 3.5 to four million Muslims. There are enough mosques for Muslims in this country, they don't need any more.

"We don't need to have sharia law which would come with more mosques imposed upon our nation, if we don't watch out, that would happen. If we want to become an Islamic state, this is the way to go.

"You build a mosque and then what happens?

"You have Muslim people moving into that area, all the shops will then become Islamic, all the housing will then become Islamic and as the Bishop of Rochester has so wisely pointed out, that will be a no go area for anyone else.

"They will bring in Islamic law. We cannot allow that to happen."

Mrs Ruoff, who lives in Waltham Cross, north east London, added: "We are still a Christian country, we need to hold on to that.

"If we don't watch out, we will become an Islamic state. It's that serious."

However, Inayat Bunglawala, the assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "These are unfortunately very bigoted and, frankly, xenophobic remarks."

He added: "These kinds of comments you would expect to come from someone from the BNP not the Church." So they think - instead this idea is catching on - and no - you don't have to be a race hating BNP member to feel the same way! And as for Xenophobia Islamic nations must be extremely xenophobic as they are closing down churches and persecuting Christians and other religious minorities.

According to Premier Radio, there are 47,000 Christian churches in the UK and about 1,600 mosques.

Source: Telegraph