Recently, an incident was reported in the British press which clearly vindicates the claims by Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, that parts of Britain are becoming “No-go areas” for non-Muslims. The bishop received death threats from Muslims for making his claims, but members of Britain’s Muslim establishment - along with some non-Muslim establishment figures - claimed that “no-go areas” for non-Muslims do not exist.
Inayat Bunglawala is a prominent member of the Muslim Council of Britain. He has previously described Osama bin Laden as a “freedom-fighter” and has written that terrorist Omar Abdel-Rahman is “courageous.” Bunglawala condemned the Bishop of Rochester’s comments about no-go areas as “stirring up racial hatred.” I wait to see how Bunglawala employs snide or devious means to belittle what happened to two Christian preachers in Birmingham, in central England.
On February 19th this year, two American preachers were stopped in Alum Rock Road in Birmingham. They were distributing Christian leaflets. The preachers were 48-year-old Arthur Cunningham and 65-year-old Pastor Joseph Abraham. They were talking to four Muslim youths when a “police community support officer” (PCSO) approached them.
PCSOs are auxiliary members of the police force, but have less training than and less status than a police constable. According to the Daily Mail, the PCSO who approached the two preachers was Naeem Naguthney.
According to Arthur Cunningham, Naguthney “realized we were Americans and then started ranting at us about George Bush and American foreign policy. He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message. He said he was going to take us to the police station.”
Mr. Cunningham also stated: “I told him that this had nothing to do with the gospel we were preaching but he became very aggressive. He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message. He said we were committing a hate crime by telling the youths to leave Islam and said that he was going to take us to the police station.”
Mr. Cunningham and Pastor Joseph Abraham have lived in Britain for some years. Pastor Joseph Abraham, who has a ministry at Alum Rock, said: “He told us we were trying to convert Muslims to Christianity and that that was a hate crime. He was very intimidating and it concerns me that somebody holding his views can become a police officer, albeit at PCSO level.”
Mr. Abraham, who is originally from Egypt, said: “I couldn’t believe this was happening in Britain. The Bishop of Rochester was criticized by the Church of England recently when he said there were no-go areas in Britain but he was right; there are certainly no-go areas for Christians who want to share the gospel.”
The two preachers are now suing the West Midlands Police for what happened to them. They are supported by the Christian Institute, a body which supports Christian rights. They are claiming that under Britain’s Human Rights legislation, they have the right to religious expression. They demand an apology from West Midlands Police Force, and also compensation.
According to the two preachers, they were told by Naguthney: “You have been warned. If you come back here and get beaten up, well you have been warned.” Melanie Phillips has written of this case in the Spectator: “When the Bishop of Rochester recently warned that Britain was developing Muslim no-go areas, he was denounced the length and breadth of the establishment, with government ministers and bishops falling over each other to declare that they did not recognise the country he was describing. ‘There are no no-go areas in Britain’ they all declared. Well, here it is, in glowing technicolour and flashing lights, in Alum Rock Birmingham.”
West Midlands Police has already overstepped the mark on deciding what a “hate crime” is. On January 15, 2007 Channel 4 TV aired a documentary by Hardcash productions, featuring British mosques that incited hatred. Though West Midlands Police claimed there was no evidence to prosecute preachers who called for the killing of homosexuals, they tried to prosecute the documentary makers and Channel 4 for “inciting racial hatred.” West Midlands Police was countersued for libel, and had to pay out more than $192,000 in damages and costs.
The Muslim PCSO who decided to vent his prejudices onto the two Christian preachers had only been employed for a year. Previously he had been unemployed for eight months. His brother, Nadeem Naguthney, has said: “Naeem is a community man, that is why he joined the police.” It appears that Naeem Naguthney has not joined the police to impartially support the entire community and all of its inhabitants, but only those with whom he shares some sense of kindred spirit. Even though he has brought further shame on the police force and has faced an investigation, he has not been sacked.
A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police has said: “The investigation concluded that the PCSO acted with the best of intentions when he intervened to diffuse a heated argument between two groups of men.” She noted that Naguthney has been offered “guidance around what constitutes a hate crime as well as his communication style.”
I contacted Pastor Joseph Abraham and he kindly granted me an exclusive interview for Family Security Matters, which is reproduced below:
FSM: How long have you been a minister?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: I have been a minister for about 22 years.
FSM: I believe the Grace Bible Fellowship Church was founded in 1858 on the east coast of America. When was the branch in Saltley, Birmingham, established?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: Our ministry Grace Bible Fellowship Church is not associatedwith the organizationthat has the same name. Our churchstarted in 1996.
FSM: My apologies. You were recently in the news after a police support officer claimed that by distributing Christian leaflets in a Muslim area, you were committing a “hate crime.” What is your opinion of this?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: Distributing Gospel tracts is not a “hate crime.” We believe the police officer was wrong to make such an irrelevant accusation. I don’t even knowwhat hemeantby “hate crime.” There was no hate no crime of any sort. The police officer was an active Muslim andthatcould explain why he tried to stop us from passing gospel tracts, using his own position to intimidate us.
FSM: Michael Nazir-Ali, the Anglican Archbishop of Rochester, recently spoke of there being Muslim “no-go areas” in Britain. Do you agree with his view?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: Officially there is no area designated as “no-go areas” in Britain. However, some Muslims consider that some predominantly Muslim neighborhoods are off-limits for non-Muslims. I have been toldby some Muslims that I am not welcome in what they consider their own neighborhood. The police officer who confronted us told that we should not giveChristian literature in a Muslim area and wanted usto leave or he would arrest us.
FSM: Do you feel that Saltley and Alum Rock in Birmingham are “Muslim” areas?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: For the most part they are predominantly Muslim areas.
FSM: When you try to bring the word of Christ, what sort of reactions have you had from local people?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: We had different kinds of reactions especially among Muslims. Some are politeand respectful. However, the majority reject the material and walk off in disgust. Others go beyonddisgust. They swear at us and call us names. Others shout at us and attack our Bible using obscene language. They seem to find pleasure in despising our Bible. They even use verses from the Bible to attack God’sWord.
Religious Muslims in particular are keen on attacking Christianity and elevating their religion as superior to Christianity. On one occasion a religious youngMuslim ran toa Muslimbookshop and bought a book full ofattacks on our Bible. Ironically, if we mention or even refer to their prophet or their Koran they turn hostile and aggressive in the communication. They seem to think that attacking our Bible will elevate their Koran. Still other Muslims try to divert the conversation to political issues to sidetrack us from the message of the Gospel and when we refuse to be pulled in politics they get angry and hostile.
FSM: Many Muslims view apostasy from Islam as a “crime” that should be punished with death. Have former Muslims who have come to your church been threatened by other Muslims?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: It is true that Islam teaches that conversion from Islam into Christianity is considered apostasy worth of death. I myself am a former Muslim and the good Lord delivered me from the darkness ofIslam. Only in certain occasions some Muslims expressed their desire to kill me but there was no serious threatening. Instead they pour their contempt on me. We have another brother a former Muslim but thankfully there was no serious threat to our lives - atleast so far.
FSM: Have you or anyone else from your ministry been threatened for bringing the Word of Christ to local people?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: A number of years ago when we first moved to Birmingham some Muslim youths came to my house pretending they want to discuss religion, but when I let them in our house they began to shout at me calling me names and demanded that I should leave the neighborhood claiming that it is a Muslim area and I should not try to bring Christianity to their Muslim area. They wanted me to leave the area. They greatly distressed me and my family especially. They stayed close to midnight and when they left the house they were shouting on the street saying, “Allahu Akbar,” whichmeans in Arabic Allah is great.
FSM: Why do you think that the Church of England, the “established” church in Britain, is becoming unpopular?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: The Church of England is out of touch of reality. We believe they are anapostate church. They are unpopularfor their departure from basic Christian values. They compromisemost of the Biblical teaching for allowed immorality to pervade the church; they ordain homosexuals and ordain women. They don’t defend Biblical authority and compromise with other false religions like Islam. We believe that the Church of England is like the church of Sardis in Revlation3: a dead church and a church without Christ just as the church of Laodicea in Rev. 3. An immoral church just as the church of Thyatira also in Rev. 3.
FSM: Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury said he thought the legal implementation of parts of Sharia Law would be “unavoidable” in Britain. What do you think of this?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: Rowan Williams and his likes have played in important part in encouraging the spread of Islam in Britain. His suggestion to apply the Sharia in England shows again the extent of the apostasy of the Church of England. He should have beenforced to resign but regretfully the Church of England seems to be beyond remedy. The right thing to do is theBiblical action. Godly people in the Church should do what God’s Word said in 2 Cor.6:17 “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord”.
FSM: The Labour government has tried to force multiculturalism onto Britain. Some people have said this policy has eroded Britain’s national pride and identity. Do you think multiculturalism has been a good or a bad thing in British society?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: I believe thatthe myth of multiculturalism has been a disaster; it hascontributed to the erosion of the British identity. It is time for the British people to rise and claim back their country from foreign intrusion and elevate the national pride - for which many great men and women died to secure our liberty. They paid their life for our liberty, while the British government is simply giving away such liberty and national pride.
FSM: What do you like most about Britain today?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: What I like about Britain is the freedom which many nations - especially in Muslims nations - do not have.
FSM: What do you dislike about Britain today?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: What I dislike about Britain is the departure of most of the British people from God and His Word thus allowingfalse religion and false and heathen gods like Allah to be propagated.
FSM: If there was one message that you think the people of Britain should hear, what should that message be?
Pastor Joseph Abraham: My message to the British is WAKE UP - your country has been invaded by Islam and unless you wake up soon Rowan William’s prediction can be true and then Britain could like Iran or Saudi Arabia or even like Afghanistan under the wicked Talibans. Do you want that to happen to your country?
FSM: Pastor Joseph Abraham, thank you very much for giving your time, and congratulations for having the bravery and forthrightness to speak up for what you believe in.