Beyond Babel: An Anglican perspective in Bradford the eighth lambeth interfaith lecture

Abstract

Bradford represents a unique vantage point from which to chart the attempts by a British city to respond to the social fact of religious and cultural diversity. A town famous for its textile industry, it has attracted migrant labour for over one hundred and fifty years: the Irish Catholic migration in the mid-nineteenth century anticipates in many particulars the Muslim experience a hundred years later. After thirty years the sizeable South Asian Muslim presence has begun to participate in the political, economic, institutional and cultural life of the city. The Church's role in both creating and supporting institutions where Christian and Muslim can work together, and using its own institutional influence to accommodate Muslim needs has been considerable. The trust and respect in which the local Bishop was held in the city enabled him to facilitate and maintain a dialogue between Muslims and civic and political leaders at a time when communities were threatening to polarize into mutual incomprehension, i...