Bishop Michael Nazir-AliThe Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester and the Church of England’s only Asian-born bishop, has criticised Muslims who simultaneously seek “victimhood and domination”.  He said such Muslims have a “dual psychology” that makes it impossible to satisfy all their demands.

“Their complaint often boils down to the position that it is always right to intervene when Muslims are victims, as in Bosnia or Kosovo, and always wrong when the Muslims are the oppressors or terrorists, as with the Taliban or in Iraq,” said Nazir-Ali.

“Given the world view that has given rise to such grievances, there can never be sufficient appeasement and new demands will continue to be made.”

To ensure that British heritage is not threatened by radical clerics, Bp Nazir-Ali calls for thorough screening to ensure that extremist imams are not permitted to enter the United Kingdom.  When the government proposed such a programme two years ago, it backed down in the face of Muslim objections.

“Characteristic British values have developed from the Christian faith and its vision of personal and common good,” said the bishop in an interview with The Sunday Times.

A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain dismissed Nazir-Ali’s remarks as not "helpful for community relationships".

Michael Nazir-Ali was born in Pakistan to parents who had converted from Islam to Christianity.  Ordained in the Church of Pakistan, he sought refuge in England in the mid-1980s when his life was endangered.