Bishop defender of the faith resigns

"A terrible blow, not just for the Church of England but for Britain"

In the context of the increasing attacks on Christians and the Christian faith in the UK, one columnist has described the resignation of Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali from his post as Bishop of Rochester as 'a terrible blow, not just for the Church of England but for Britain’.

Dr. Nazir-Ali, who received death threats after claiming that parts of Britain had become '"no-go areas" for non-Muslims, intends to work “where the church is under pressure” after stepping down a decade early from his present position.
As the church’s first non-white diocesan bishop, Nazir-Ali, 59, is a Bible-believing Christian who has rarely shied away from controversy.

In February last year the outspoken bishop, whose father converted to Christianity in Pakistan, was placed under police protection after his “no-go” comments. He has also been quoted as claiming that the church is not doing enough to convert Muslims to Christianity. Last month Nazir-Ali suggested that Christianity was being further sidelined by a “secularist agenda”. This view seems to be supported by a series of recent incidents involving Christians in a variety of public roles - including the case of the school receptionist who was suspended because she asked for prayer. And the recent news of the National Secular Society’s attempt to have hospital chaplaincy funding withdrawn arrives on the top of the BBC’s appointment of a Sikh as Executive Producer at the corporation’s Religion & Ethics Department in Manchester.