Prince 'cannot defend all faiths'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, said that differences between religions made it impossible to defend all of them.
The Prince first said that he wanted to be known as "Defender of Faith" - as opposed to "Defender of the Faith" - in 1994, when he suggested that the monarch's traditional title implied that he or she would protect only Christians.
Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme yesterday, Dr Nazir-Ali said that such a change would be impossible. "The coronation service is such that whoever takes the oaths actually takes oaths to defend the Christian faith," he said.
"If, by saying that, he meant that he wanted to uphold the freedom of people of every faith, then I have no quarrel with that. But you can't defend every faith, because there are very serious differences among them."
In an interview earlier this week, the bishop - who was born a Muslim - called on fellow Anglicans to reassert Britain's "Christian character" and resist the trend towards a "multi-faith mish-mash".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments