I got this in my facebook link from a good friend, Sophia.
Some of you may have already read this. But I thought I'd share this with my readers who have not.
(source: BBC news)
Anjum Anwar's and Canon Chivers' work is seen as ground-breaking.
A woman who was awarded an MBE for community service in Lancashire is the first Muslim to be appointed to the Church of England's staff.
Anjum Anwar has joined Blackburn Cathedral as a dialogue development officer to work with local communities on multi-faith issues.
The chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques said the Muslim community was very happy with the news.
Ms Anwar will work closely with Canon Chris Chivers over the next two years.
Canon Guy Wilkinson, national adviser on inter-faith relations, said: "Blackburn Cathedral is demonstrating what it is to be present at the heart of the community, and to engage in positive and constructive ways."
Her post will be funded by the North West Development Agency (NWDA) which emphasised that "faith communities are major custodians of the cultural and architectural heritage of this region".
Community benefits
The NWDA also added that it saw the work of Anjum Anwar and Canon Chivers at Blackburn Cathedral as "genuinely groundbreaking".
Ms Anwar said that the cathedral was taking a very brave and unique step.
"It shows that working together has real benefits for both communities, and for wider communities as well", she added.
She was born in Karachi, Pakistan and has been living in the UK for the past 40 years. She and her 13-year-old son live in Accrington.
Ms Anwar has spent the last five years running a partnership project between Lancashire Council of Mosques (LCM) and Lancashire County Council's LEA called Understanding Islam.
Why can't this happen in Malaysia. Build bridges and not destroy them.
ReplyDeleteWe can appoint MM but first she must wear tudung & jubah like Ms Anjum.
ReplyDeleteIf not buat malu Islam je.
1 Malaysia is for building bridges,unfortunately the leadership is only doing lip service.
ReplyDeletehope she doesn't get confused!
ReplyDeletedpmm
If this happens in Malaysia, there will be outcry of "Traitor!" "Murtad" and all that ! Right or wrong?
ReplyDeleteI bet it won't be happening here, just an example, Khalid Samad just visit a church and now Fanatic Muslim UMNO call him Khalid Gereja.
ReplyDeleteanon@3:25PM,
ReplyDeleteyou never know...Britain'r race problems worse than ours, in a different sort of way. they need to (seriously) mend fences and build bridges, like nothing before.
don't be disheartened. for every one very angry and fanatical malay muslim there are 10 others who are not.
anon@6:01PM;
ReplyDeleteit's the heart...doesn't make nay woman a bad muslim of she does not don a tudung.
anon@7:06PM,
ReplyDeletethat is a very sweeping statement.
anon@7:30PM,
ReplyDeletei think she is very clear on what she is doing...
God bless her!
anon@7:30PM who said "If this happens in Malaysia, there will be outcry of "Traitor!" "Murtad" and all that ! Right or wrong?"
ReplyDelete--- yes, there will be people saying that. but have faith....not everyone will say that.
-- it takes all sorts...
anon@9:46PM,
ReplyDeletewell...as i have said, there are all sorts of people. good, bad, nice, not nice, fanatical, moderate, mad, sane...
UMNO is only well-known for burning bridges, not building them!
ReplyDeleteBuilding Bridges Across Religious Divides?
ReplyDelete==========
Excuse me but the bridge is already there. You just have to walk across it.
anon@9:26Am: i'm not sure they see that in the UK.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, situations in the UK are much different that what we face here in our country.
ReplyDeleteIn Malaysia, the mutual distrust between Muslims and non-Muslims is based on the deep-rooted fear that Christians are trying to convert Muslims into Christianity.
In the UK such a situation virtually doesn't exist. Proselytism is not the main agenda among Christians over there.
Why one must asks?
Christendom in the UK is too busy fighting an enemy that is spreading like wildfire. Atheism.
A 2004 survey by the BBC revealed that Britons who are "secular, non-religious, agnostics and atheists" stands at 39% of the total population. The survey also revealed that more than a quarter of Britons thought the world would be more peaceful with nobody believing in God.
So the Church of England is forced to combat Atheism with everything at its disposal. It needs allies from every available corner, which include Muslims and other theists.
After all, atheism is THE COMMON ENEMY of both Islam and Christianity.
Thus, this radical move by the Church of England comes as no surprise to me.
Selampit said, "In Malaysia, the mutual distrust between Muslims and non-Muslims is based on the deep-rooted fear that Christians are trying to convert Muslims into Christianity."
ReplyDeleteFunny that you didn't notice that you said the 'mutual distrust' between Christians and Muslims is because of the fear that Christians are trying to convert Muslims.
Just so you know, 'mutual' means two-way.
So unless you're suggesting that Christians are 'afraid' that Muslims are going to become Christian...
I do hope you get the point.
-Vish.
hey vish..
ReplyDeleteyou neither muslim nor christian..
so, what with that bz body?
why not build your own bridges across your own religious caste divides for a start..definitely still looooonggg way to go..so solve your own inhouse problem first before deciding to bump to others..
:D muhahahaha
- you know who -
This thing doesn't happen in Malaysia. I'm sad to say that we are more divided as compared to our forefather :(
ReplyDelete