I’ve been alerted thanks to JonMC over at Harry’s Place to an article in the Spectator by Jonathan Sacerdoti on ‘interfaith’ initiatives and the Church of England’s involvement in them. In his article Mr Sacerdoti excoriates the C of E and it’s female Archbishop of Canterbury for a whole host of things such as honouring a fan of Osama Bin Laden with an ‘interfaith’ award and her conduct during her recent visit to Israel.
Mr Sacerdoti calls out these big organised ‘interfaith’ events for what they are which is what he called performative demonstrations of coexistence. I agree with him on this wholeheartedly. A lot of the ‘interfaith’ stuff I’ve seen done with Muslims is not genuine coexistence and cooperation, a lot of which goes on out of the public eye and between individuals who may never ever talk to each other about matters of religion, it’s virtue signalling.
This sort of organised performative coexistence is dangerous. It not only is an opportunity for the non-Muslim participants to engage in empty virtue signalling but it also gives an opportunity for some quite challenging Islamic extremists to do a little Taqiyya or lying in order to promote Islam.
Mr Sacerdoti said:
“Those of us who have sat through a lifetime of clunky ‘interfaith’ initiatives – and I have done so from the Jewish side of the table for at least 20 years – learn to recognise the tell. The harder an event works to demonstrate that two communities get along, the more clearly it announces that somebody doubts it. I have said for decades, usually to sneers, that these choreographed encounters are not coexistence but a performance of it; that the performance tends to prove the opposite of what it intends; and that a stage, once built, attracts performers. “
He’s correct there, what goes on at interfaith events is not real life but performance. Personally I refuse to get involve with or attend the most recent manifestation of such performances which are Islamic ‘Iftar’ meals that take place in synagogues. I can save money and time by staying home and letting the BBC lie to me about Islam instead. These events primarily serve just a couple of purposes and one is to make some quite challenging Muslims look good and for those Rabbonim who are so open minded that their brains have fallen out to get their fizzogs in the local paper and the Jewish Chronicle.
There are Muslims out there that I like, respect and get along well with and I don’t need any organised events to allow me to do that.
On the subject of Archbishop Mullally’s so far disastrous tenure Mr Sacerdoti added:
Her bumbling voyage through every woke, reactionary cause is providing her flock with a valuable lesson in how such ‘leadership’ only drags them in one direction: towards disaster. And it is all being photographed, press released and shared on Instagram for maximum effect, confirming that this type of fakery’s only value is through performative, enforced visibility. If she is the shepherd and the Church her flock, she seems determined to remind us that the end destination for sheep is always the slaughterhouse.
Spot on there Mr Sacerdoti.
I’m saddened to see such poor leadership and so much idiotic naivety at the top of the Anglican Communion. It saddens me to see my Anglican friends so very poorly led by the church’s leadership. It saddens me as well as I’m one of those rarest of beasts, a Jewish antidisestablishmentarian, it stretches my support for this organisation that I’ve previously supported on the grounds that it’s better to have a relatively moderate religious force at the centre of society than a free for all where the loudest and most violent voices hold the religious reins.
The Church of England is being played by some quite unpleasant extremist orthodox Muslims and what’s needed is more people like the Tory MP Nick Timothy to call it out.
This part of Mr Sacerdoti’s piece really stood out to me. Mr Sacerdoti said:
“What the Islamist wants from the interfaith event is not conversion, it is certification: the photograph, the citation, the bishop’s handshake, and the proposition ‘this man is moderate’ – and soon, ‘this man represents Muslims’. The liberal Muslim with no organisation – with whom there is at least a scrap of hope of coexistence – receives none of this. The disciplined activist receives all of it.”
The C of E is walking into a trap set for them by the sort of Muslims who any sensible entity whether religious or secular should quite rightly keep at arms length. What’s worse is they are walking into this trap with eyes open but blinded by their own delusions.
Links
Spectator piece on ‘interfaith’ problems
The Harry’s Place thread that alerted me to this piece
https://hurryupharry.net/2026/08/31/september-hangout-2/
The Daily Sceptic piece on the Archbishop of Canterbury honouring a particularly unpleasant Muslim with equally unpleasant views.
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