Prince Charles insists faith leaders must not remain ‘silent’ over suffering of minorities as the royal says recognising the role of religion is central to ‘our future as a free society.
Muslim leaders have a duty to warn their own followers about the “indescribable tragedy” of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and around the world, the Prince of Wales has insisted.
He said that faith leaders must ensure their followers respect believers in other faiths “rather than remaining silent”.
His comments came in a special message recorded for the publication of a new report which concludes that Christians are the “most persecuted religious minority” in the world and that Muslim countries dominate the list of places where religious freedom is most under threat.
While emphasising the importance of his own personal Christian faith, he also signalled that he saw his role as to “defend” followers of other faiths including Islam.
Britain’s “future as a free society” depends on recognising the “crucial role” played by people of faith, he said.
But he warned that freedom of religion is also being “challenged” in Western countries.
His remarks come as a report by the Roman Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need, found that the last two years have been a period of “serious decline” in religious freedom in many parts of the world.
Although the report concludes that Christians are suffering the most widespread persecution - across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and elsewhere - it also points out that Muslims are coming under “serious” threat.
It also argues that religious freedom is in “decline” in the UK and other western countries, because of both a fear of extremism and a growing belief that faith should have no place in public life.
The report singles out the rise of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as Isis and Isil, which has set about the systematic destruction of a Christian community dating back almost 2,000 years.
It also highlights the kidnapping of 200 Christian schoolgirls by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram in Nigeria and the case of Meriam Ibrahim who condemned to death for “apostasy” in Sudan, while heavily pregnant, but released after a global outcry including concern by Pope Francis.
But the report also draws attention to the plight of Muslim minorities in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East as well as Asia, where the Rohingya group in Burma is facing official restrictions on the number of children families are allowed.
In a video message recorded for the launch of the report in the House of Lords, the Prince spoke of his anguish at the plight of Christianity in the region of its birth.
“It is an indescribable tragedy that Christianity is now under such threat in the Middle East – an area where Christians have lived for 2,000 years, and across which Islam spread in 700AD, with people of different faiths living together peaceably for centuries,” he said.
“It seems to me that our future as a free society – both here in Britain and throughout the world – depends on recognising the crucial role played by people of faith.
“And, of course, religious faith is all the more convincing to those outside the faith when it is expressed with humility and compassion, giving space to others, whatever their beliefs.”
Setting out his own suggestions to improve the situation, he said: “First and foremost, rather than remaining silent, faith leaders have, it seems to me, a responsibility to ensure that people within their own tradition respect people from other faith traditions.
“We have yet to see the full potential of faith communities working together.”
He said this would require people to have both a “maturity in one’s own faith” and an “essential humility”.
The future King echoed his previous signal that he wishes to be seen not as not as Defender of the Faith, the title held by each monarch since Henry VIII, but as Defender of Faith in general.
But he also re-emphasised that this was rooted in his own Christian convictions.
“I believe that to speak to another faith tradition and to defend those who follow it, it is profoundly helpful to speak from the core of one's own spiritual experience,” he said.
“My own Christian faith has enabled me to speak to, and to listen to, people from other traditions, including Islam.”
Quoting recent remarks from Pope Francis, he said that dialogue with followers of other faiths was not only essential for peace in the world but a “duty” for all Christians and members of other religions.
But the report also lists the UK among 15 countries where religious freedom is classed as not only “of concern” but in which it has “deteriorated” in recent years.
It singles out debates over faith schools, gay marriage and assisted dying as areas where religious beliefs are increasingly coming into conflict with a secular view.
The report also specifically highlights the way in which British Catholic adoption agencies which refused to place children with same-sex couples have been forced to close as an example of what it calls a “hierarchy of rights” in which equalities take precedence over religious rights.
The Prince said: “It is essential that governments honour their duty to uphold the right of people to practise their faith.
“Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is clear in stating that this right includes the freedom to change one’s religion or belief.
“Yet even in the West this right is often challenged.
“Sadly, in many other countries, an absence of freedom to determine one’s own faith is woven into the laws and customs of the nation.
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