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Christian Priorities in a Multi-faith City

The crucial issue

Christians in Bradford live from day to day with the question "What does it mean to engage in authentic Christian mission in places where the majority of people of faith are not Christian - nor ever likely to be?" Unsurprisingly they are not united in their response to that question. There are churches who maintain a simplistic "we are right, the others are wrong" approach but sheer experience of the realities of Bradford life ensures that they are a minority. In terms of action there has been a remarkable level of ecumenical cooperation in the inner areas of Bradford. Meanwhile Bradford churches understand well why Britain's most Muslim city took longer than most to get a Faiths Forum off the ground. The churches may have got their act together ecumenically better than in some other places, but they recognise the fragmentation and rivalries which divide other faith communities and which can surface when they are present in such large numbers. The Council for Mosques does its best but not all mosques recognise its representative function. Caste and clan complicate Hindu and Sikh networks as well as Bradford Islam.

The mainstream churches have long supported interfaith work in terms of a small group of paid workers. The Bishop of Bradford has an Interfaith Advisor. Bradford Cathedral has a Muslim staff member. The Catholic Diocese of Leeds has a part-time Interfaith Advisor, and a member of the Society of St. Columban is in residence at the Columba Community which under girds interfaith work with regular prayer. A number of religious sisters are active in multifaith areas. The Methodists have Touchstone, a flagship project with a team of 5 (including a Pakistani Christian woman as Faith to Faith worker), concentrating on city issues and interfaith work.

Critical Support

Christians may want to challenge their Muslim neighbours on some of their practices (eg. the isolation of some women from mainstream culture), which may have more to do with traditional Mirpuri culture or Kashmiri politics than Islam. Ideally this challenge happens after good relationships have been established rather than before, and it certainly helps if those offering criticism have a consistent record of anti-racist activity. Ann Cryer, the former Member of Parliament for Keighley, is someone who has challenged the attitudes of many Asian men, and her views in this area have always been worth taking seriously.

Within the churches people struggle to remain faithful Christian Bradfordians alongside Hindu, Sikh and Muslim citizens despite the constant denigration of Bradford from outside, Bradford gets a raw deal from those sections of the national media whose lazy thinking makes them vulnerable to racism. For some tabloid headline writers Bradford is a Muslim/Pakistani place and therefore must be bad news. They forget that in the City of Bradford Metropolitan District four out of five of us are white. A visiting journalist turning up for the occasional riot is unlikely to take a trip out to the whiter suburbs and only sees the concentration of the ethnic minority in the inner ring. In some of these inner areas (and in parts of Keighley - a satellite town ten miles to the north west) the four to one ratio is reversed. Meanwhile we can be grateful for a much more responsible approach from the regional and local media.

The churches have emphasised a twin track approach to strengthening interfaith relationships. We have to maintain links with the traditional faith leaders while developing fresh links with younger people and women. Touchstone majors on work with women. There is a growing recognition across Bradford that much of the hope for the future of the city lies with the next generation of Muslim women.

Ten priorities

So what are the priorities for Christians in places like this? This is not an exhaustive list, and in no particular order, but here are ten suggestions:

  1. Wherever possible, staying put and supporting one another.
  2. Resisting extremist political parties who portray Islam as the enemy.
  3. Refusing to recognise extremist groups as representative, including those inside Christianity.
  4. Helping reduce Christian misunderstandings about Islam and Muslim distortions of Christianity.
  5. Working in areas of common concern within the community, so that people are able to encounter one another as human beings - and thus, in time, expose themselves to one another's faith.
  6. Supporting cultural events in safe spaces which bring communities together.
  7. Quietly supporting Muslim young people (especially young women) who are challenging traditional practices.
  8. Warning Muslims about following Christian mistakes in putting up too many buildings.
  9. Recognising the crucial importance of hospitality and sharing food.
  10. Being willing to receive spiritual wisdom from people of other faiths.

The overall priority is looking for God in all of these things. One of the joys of working in areas such as this is a clear sense of priorities - dealing with serious stuff to the glory of God! New ways of working have to be developed, often within new ways of being church (modest, flexible and imaginative). This is an arena for the deepening of individual Christian faith and the revitalisation of church life. In the midst of all the challenges, risks and confusions we are enjoying ourselves enormously and we thank God for it! - Geoff Reid June 2008

Questions for discussion

  • Are Christians right to move out of inner city areas so that their children can get their schooling in areas where they will not find themselves in a white minority?
  • If we are asking Muslims to distinguish between culture and faith, what might it mean if they asked us to do the same?
  • Some Christians in Bradford occasionally find themselves praying alongside (occasionally even with) people of other faiths. What do you feel about this?