Religionsfrihet
står under press i Storbritannia:
The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael
Nazir-Ali, will claim «freedom to believe» is under threat in Britain
because of Islamic hostility to conversion.
Hannah, now employed in multi-faith
youth work and who gives talks to churches on Islam, is the daughter of a
Lancashire imam whose seven other children are demanding she return to Islam.
She has been in hiding, since her home was attacked by a group of men armed
with knives, axes and hammers, in 1994. She will describe today how she is in
fear of her life after the death threats against her were recently renewed.
She said: «I left home and I
had nowhere to go. My religious education teacher gave me somewhere to live.
Even though she tried to make me stay at home on Sundays, I am quite rebellious
by nature and I started to go to church with her out of curiosity.»
She said she had been in hiding, on
and off, ever since, and has now been given a telephone number she can call for
an instant response by police should she need help. The latest threat was a
text message from one of her brothers, warning he could not be responsible for
his actions if she did not return to Islam.
Selv om
islam påbyr henrettelse av apostater, tror ikke ”Hannah” at alle muslimer er så
ekstreme at de faktisk ønsker å følge opp dette påbudet:
«It is representative of some
Muslims. I know the Koran says that anyone who goes away from Islam should be
killed as an apostate so in some ways my family are following the Koran. They
are following Islam to the word. But I do not think every Muslim would actually
act on that.»
Earlier this year, a Policy
Exchange study found that 36 per cent of British Muslims aged between 16 and 24
believed those who converted to another religion should be punished by death. [Policy
Exchange report here].
Les mer
om Hannahs skjebne i Times Online.
Ovenstående
nyhetsmelding er bare et enkelttilfelle, men er en del av en illevarslende
trend. I henhold til ett av programmene i Channel 4 sin Dispatch-serie, ”Leaving islam 2007” (se programmet her
), lever rundt 3000 kristne i Storbritannia i frykt for forfølgelser. Vold,
trusler og trakassering er hverdagskost for tusenvis av britiske innvandrere
som har forlatt islam og konvertert til kristendommen. I England av 2007 går
kristne under jorden og holder sine møter i hemmelighet.
Paradoksalt
nok kan religionsforfølgelsen i Storbritannia settes i sammenheng med
Tony Blairs nestekjærlige innvandringspolitikk.