24 June 2012
Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury, has had good relations with the British Muslim community during his nine years of service. He was vociferous critique of the war on Iraq and signed a petition in 2002 to oppose the war. He also, in 2006 wrote a letter to Tony Blair on behalf of 114 Church of England bishops to warn him for the misconduct of the occupation troops in Iraq. He opposed the French headscarf ban and spoke against the media outrage against the Muslim community after the London bombing in July 2005.
In his forthcoming book entitled Faith in the Public Square, Bishop Rowan harshly criticized the present and previous UK governments for their domestic and foreign policies including Labour party’s legislation in 2006 that made incitement to religious hatred a criminal offense. According to Bishop Rowan the legislation has drawn considerable attention to the Muslim minority and gave rise to Islamphobic sentiments. He further called Muslims living in the UK for greater integration.
