Keeping the faith

A leading Anglican bishop has recently been commenting on Prince Charles and his wish to become a 'Defender of Faith' rather than 'Defender of the Faith', the traditional title given to British monarchs since it was bestowed upon Henry VIII by the Pope all those years ago (rather ironic given what Henry did later but that's another story). Dr Nazir-Ali claims that it is impossible to justify defending all faiths because of the differences between them. However, while I accept that it is impossible to try to claim every faith is 'right' given these disparities between them (although people don't always remember that the three of the world's biggest religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, came from the same roots), I laud Prince Charles for his efforts to do his best to encourage tolerance and understanding between all the various beliefs in what will eventually become his kingdom.

This is quite a hot topic this year given the fuss over the cartoons of Muhammad and the recent attempts to censor or ban the Da Vinci Code film. I believe though that it is more than possible for Prince Charles to at least defend everyone's right to follow their faith freely and to believe that they are right in doing so. He perceives his role as monarch not as being to justify and argue for every religion's beliefs, but to uphold the rights of followers of them. The problems come when a believer in one faith attempts to decry or even destroy another. People have to accept that they believe one thing and someone else believes another.

I do agree though that political correctness has gone too far in Britain. The stories which appear every year (usually in the Daily Mail) of the local village nativity play being banned as disrespectful to other faiths or the compulsory 'Seasons Greetings' messages rather than any Christmas wishes, indicate that maybe we are trying a little bit too hard. But to warn of a 'multi-faith mish-mash', as Dr Nazir-Ali does, also seems a little too far in the opposite direction. Britain's religions and ethnic diversity helps make it the unique place it is. Fostering understanding and dialogue between faiths rather than attempting to homogenise them is surely the most realistic and desirable way forward.

At a time when we are increasingly seeing a clash of religions dominate world affairs, I believe we should welcome a monarch who is prepared to openly discuss religious differences and defend the rights of his subjects to freely follow their beliefs, rather than castigate him for what is wrongly made out to be an untenable position.