Be clear in countering ideology, says Welby

‘For the last 500 years religious traditions and scriptures have been twisted and misused by people’

MUSLIM leaders should take responsibility for countering the religious justification for atrocities committed in their name, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said in the wake of the London Bridge terrorist attack.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said that politicians should not just say that the attacks have “nothing to do with Islam”, adding that the ideological basis for atrocities should not be overlooked.

He said that failing to acknowledge the role played by Islam in such attacks was similar to failing to accept Christianity’s role in the Srebrenica massacre. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “For the last 500 years religious traditions and scriptures have been twisted and misused by people.

“Sometimes the way in which religious leaders of all the major faiths have behaved permits and occasionally encourages that.

“If something is happening in our own faith tradition we must take responsibility for being very, very clear in countering it.”

Politicians should not just say “this is nothing to do with Islam”, he added, saying that the ideological basis should not be overlooked.

“I don’t think it is getting us anywhere, just like saying Srebrenica had nothing to do with Christianity,” he said. “We need to say that we have to take responsibility.”

However, he added: “What is clear over the weekend is the extraordinary level of condemnation by every significant Muslim leader we know.”

He said that some of those dealing with the terrorism threat suffered from “a lack of religious literacy” and were unable to put themselves “in the shoes of religious believers”. Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary, also insisted that British Muslims must do more than simply condemn terror.

He said they have a “unique burden” to tackle extremism after the London Bridge attack.

Mr Javid, the son of a Muslim bus driver, said that after every terror attack linked to Islamist extremism “a lot of well-meaning people” say the atrocities have “nothing to do with Islam”.

Mr Javid said that statement is correct but that “speaking as a Muslim myself, we need to ask ourselves searching questions” and have the “courage” to have “difficult conversations” about extremism.