Christian-Muslim Identity

Brief reflections at the opening of ‘Telling the Truth about British Muslim Identity’ (2013)

At this event on British Muslim identity I want to share a few words about the Christian Muslim Forum’s Christian-Muslim identity. As an organisation we are both, 50/50 throughout. This is reflected in our Presidents, four Christians and four Muslims, across our diverse traditions. Our Patron is the Archbishop of Canterbury so we are not bilateral at that point but that reflects the reality of our country (England rather than Britain) and our religious communities, one with an Established structure and the other with many independent congregations.

Yet, in our relationship with each other we have unexpected commonalities and some surprises. The suggestion that the Forum’s Patron should be the Archbishop came from Muslim colleagues, recognising him as the senior religious figure for people of all faiths. Many Muslims would not hesitate to call him ‘our Archbishop’. In the interests of balance, a founding value for us, and ever more important as we seek to be a body for both communities, for a couple of years we had a Muslim Patron too, the Chair of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board. But, our communities are not equivalent in their structures or their leadership and the idea of a Muslim counterpart to the Archbishop was a step too far.

Our origins are in a pledge that Archbishop Carey gave publicly proposing a positive space to Muslim identity in England at a structural and national level so that, in the words of the Qur’an, we could meet, or know, each other. There is a Christian-Muslim identity which is taking shape in the interaction of people of both faiths, where we can speak and work together. Some of these ways are perception-changing. One of our first initiatives, as the Daily Mail described it in December 2006 on its front page, was a campaign for a real Christmas. A Christian festival, with which secular authorities were, seemingly, becoming increasingly uncomfortable, with Muslims, and people of other faiths, implicated in its ‘banning’. As Christians and Muslims we were able to speak together and say that Muslims didn’t have a problem with Christmas, even, from one of our colleagues, that there should be more public nativity scenes. See our ‘Christmas Statement’.

We further challenged and confronted our potentially divisive identities in our joint statement on mission, evangelism and da’wah. Committing ourselves to both dialogue and being open about sharing our faith.

Finally, very specifically on the subject of British, or properly English, identity we campaigned on St George’s Day with #StGeorge4All. You can see us holding the flag in our current leaflet and here, asserting that St George is for everyone and is not a rallying figure for racism. As Christians and Muslims we work together to develop a new shared and inclusive identity, recognising that we are beyond the exclusive and taking up the challenge of integrating with each other.

Julian Bond, Director, Christian Muslim Forum

Dr Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor’s speech

Read my colleague Akeela Ahmed’s speech ‘The Truth about Muslim Identity’

Keep Calm … We’re British! more reflections (January 2014)

Originally published at www.christianmuslimforum.org.