by Julian Mann, Christian Today
This is the picture that could lead to the political disestablishment of the Church of England.
On the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 Islamist terror attacks against the US, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, presents an award for reconciliation and interfaith cooperation to a Muslim cleric from Pakistan who is accused of praising the architect of the atrocities, Osama bin Laden.
In between the Archbishop and Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, the recipient of the award, is the imam’s wife in a full Islamic niqab. The face of the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1400-year history of the office is fully visible at the ceremony at Lambeth Palace, her official residence, but the face of the woman standing next to her is not.
The fact that the award has now been withdrawn cannot undo the damage. Ten years ago, Archbishop Mullally and the Church of England might have been able to put the mistake behind them. But the political climate is so much angrier now than it was even in 2016 when a divided country voted narrowly to leave the European Union.
Archbishop Mullally and her Lambeth Palace team have succeeded in grossly offending two groups of people among the British electorate. In the first group are people on the right of the political spectrum who are very concerned about the growth of Islamist influence in society.
In the second group are people who tend to be politically left-wing but are very concerned about the threats to women’s rights from transgender ideology. Harry Potter author JK Rowling is clearly a leading light among this group of people.
The picture above alienates both groups at once because they have overlapping concerns.