Nigerian Primate urges Anglicans to unite against militants: CEN 4.09.09 p 5.

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Peter Akinola has entered the dispute surrounding critical comments made on an Evangelical website of the work and ministry of the Barnabas Fund, urging Evangelicals in Britain to put aside their divisions over how best to confront the challenge of militant Islam, and stand together in the face of its advance.

Citing incidents of Muslim persecution of converts from Islam to Christianity in Britain and the death threats received by the Bishop of Rochester, Archbishop Akinola wrote last week that “no longer are the painful experiences of Christians who are suffering at the hands of Islam confined to Africa, Asia and the Middle East, they are increasing and alarmingly occurring in the West.”

Many in the West were blind to the real character of militant Islam, he said. While most took for granted the right of an individual to change his religion, under Sharia law “adult male apostates suffer the death penalty and there are many cases where zealous Islamic leaders take the law into their own hands and carry out execution of apostates.”

Uncertain as to how best precede, Western political and church leaders had effectively capitulated to Islam “in an effort to establish man-made peace and cohesion in society,” he said, citing Dr. Rowan Williams’ defence of his comments on Sharia law in a press conference at the close of the February primates meeting.

Nigerian Christians understood the challenge of Sharia law, where 12 of the country’s 36 states had incorporated its provisions in the civil law code. “In the last 22 years the country has witnessed over 20 religious crises resulting in worshippers being prevented from attending church services, Christian properties and churches have been burnt and destroyed and not a few Christians have been maimed and killed,” he said.

Faced with this challenge, Archbishop Akinola castigated evangelicals in Britain for attacking each other “across the Internet on blogs and websites.” While not mentioning by name the controversy surrounding negative comments about Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo of the Barnabas Fund, Archbishop Akinola urged a halt to the “totally unnecessary battle of words” that had left some individuals “wounded and hurt, [while] others have felt misunderstood and maligned.”

“Such behaviour only strengthens the hand of the opponent,” he said noting that “those faithful to the historic Christian faith are already fighting many battles on many fronts.”

“I appeal to you, brethren, in the name of our only Lord and Saviour Jesus the Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought,” he said. “Rather than investing your God-given money, time and energy into unprofitable arguments, paying for publicity for point scoring, leaders of the Christian Church must commit every possible and available resource to faithful proclamation of the gospel message, which has once for all been entrusted to the saints.”