Society

Call to halt spread of mosques

Former magistrate and regular commentator on Premier Christian Radio, Alison Ruoff, made a strong call in favour of halting the construction of new mosques as a way of protecting Christians freedoms in the UK.

"Halting the building of mosques in the United Kingdom is about preserving precious freedoms - both here and abroad," she told the station.

Ms Ruoff pointed to the severe persecution faced by Christians in majority-Muslim countries such as Indonesia and Pakistan where churches are being burned down and pastors and Christians murdered. “If people in those countries were to convert from Islam to Christianity, the punishment is death,” she said.

She added that the UK needed to hold onto its Christian freedoms.

"We need to look at what is going on in the UK. We are still a predominantly Christian country, that was hard won by people giving up their lives hundreds of years ago and we need to hold onto it,” she told the station.

"As a still predominantly Christian nation we must guard our hard won Christian freedoms dearly. Many Muslims have come to this country in search of just this and to escape the tyrannical oppression of living under Sharia law.”

She referred to the recent assertion by the Bishop of Rochester, the Pakistan-born Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, that some largely Muslim areas of Britain are turning into no-go areas for people of other faiths.

"Christian freedoms are priceless but if we allow more and more mosques to be built then we run the risk of creating purely Islamic areas which will surely become 'no-go' areas for a non-Muslim,” she said.

Added: Friday, April 4, 2008, 17:35 (BST)

I wonder if areas round churches are no-go areas for non-Christians. There is a mosque in my area, and it isn't a no-go area for anyone, and isn't the selective withholding of planning permission for mosques as likely to generate retaliation as relaxation of anti-Christian sentiment in Islamic states?

Jethro, Dunblane

Added: Thursday, April 3, 2008, 14:26 (BST)

Dear Sirs: Thank you for this interesting article. Regarding the proliferation of Islam in the UK, and the certain erosion of all freedoms were Islam to gain sway, Ms. Ruoff is right to be concerned. Yet, legislation to stop the consruction of mosques is short-sighted, and, in the end, ineffective in controling the tendency of the fallen world. A relatively current example is the removal of the strict Soviet laws in 1991, resulting in a sudden freedom for the people of the former USSR, a freedom to sin which they eagerly embraced. So, what is the answer: a call to prayer (no pun intended) for Christians, pleading with God for the salvation of the Muslims (Romans 10:1), the evangelization of Muslims by Christians (Matthew 28:16-20), and the gathering of new Christians into a community of the saints - the Church (Acts 2:42-47, Ephesians 4:11). Thank you for reading this. Sincerely in Christ, Paul Griffin

Paul Griffin, Rocky Face, GA, USA

Added: Thursday, April 3, 2008, 13:11 (BST)

This is the absolutely dumbest thing I have heard from someone other that Ahmadinejad!

Joseph Kossuth, Irving, Tx, USA

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