Working together benefits all faiths

Oppression of minorities is a frequent factor in the world, regardless of the beliefs involved, writes Shelina Zahra Janmohamed.

Rohingya Muslims look through the gates of a house in a Myanmar village where many displaced by violence found shelter. ( Damir Sagolj / Reuters)

her say

Last week, a Christian couple in Pakistan were beaten to death after they allegedly desecrated a Quran. In Nigeria, a suicide bomber killed at least 23 Shia Muslims during a peaceful march to commemorate Ashura. The Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar have been described as the most persecuted minority on Earth.

Stories of hatred and violence based on fomenting ideas about how others are different from us, and therefore lesser and even deserving of death, are heartbreakingly common.

Religion is just one of the banners under which killing has wrongly been justified. But with ISIL dominating the news, and a recent report about countries with the highest levels of religious persecution released last week, it is religion that dominates our discussion.

At the launch of the report, Britain’s Prince Charles released a video urging faith leaders to do more in the face of the deterioration of religious freedom. He spoke of his growing despair at the expulsion of Christians, Muslims and Yazidis from places in the Middle East where they have lived for centuries.

He spoke with conviction that all faiths need to come together and to be inspired by their own faith experiences, as well as learn about the beliefs of others. As he is a Christian, and the next in line to be the head of the Church of England, it is unsurprising that he gave prominence to the “indescribable tragedy that Christianity is now under such threat in the Middle East”. But he noted that this region has had “people of different faiths living together peaceably for centuries”.

It was a measured message of outreach focusing on the importance of religion and interfaith relationships and how religious leaders can play a significant role.

The news reports have focused on his apparent plea to Muslim religious leaders to speak out about growing Christian persecution – yet nowhere in his message does he single out any one faith. These misleading and provocative headlines have purposely created a danger of their own, turning the potentially valuable message of uniting across faiths and driving out persecution into one which exacerbates hatred.

Of course, such a subject will always cause controversy as it appears to be political. And obvious inconsistencies should rightly be pointed out. The British journalist Yvonne Ridley noted: “There is no doubt that the situation for Christians, and just about everyone else who crosses ISIL, is ‘heartbreaking’, but so is that of the fast-disappearing Christian community in Gaza and the West Bank, especially Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem have largely been driven out through Israeli persecution and the Apartheid Wall which snakes its way around the town.”

The suffering of one or more minorities is usually a sign that there is a wider problem with oppression and equality. All faiths are built on the core concepts of compassion and justice, so when the banner of faith is misused to perpetrate persecution there is a poignancy to harnessing faith to defeat hatred. As Prince Charles said: “We have yet to see the full potential of faith communities working together.”

Shelina Zahra Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and blogs at www. spirit21.co.uk