Pat Dollard | Young Americans

By Kevin McCandless - CNSNews:

London - With more and more Britons reported to be embracing Islam, the Church of England has launched a campaign targeting Muslims for conversion.

At the church’s General Synod in July, assembled clergy and lay members are expected to debate a motion calling for a recognition of the “uniqueness of Christ” in today’s multi-faith Britain.

At the same time, the motion also will urge the church to proclaim “the gospel of salvation through Christ alone” to people of other faiths and to those with none.

Paul Eddy, a priest in training, says he introduced the motion because he fears that the Anglican Church has watered down its faith in recent years.

Where many Muslims are publicly robust in their faith, he said the church had “lost its nerve” and was creating a vacuum that other religions are filling.

In a brief interview Monday, Eddy said the latest figures from Christian Research, a group that analyzes religious trends, showed that 50,000 Britons had converted to Islam in the last decade. (The Church of England says Christian Research figures are misleading, arguing that its methods of counting church-goers produced an undercount.)

“Islam is providing a certainty about faith, particularly among the young, that Christianity isn’t,” Eddy said, adding that the church ultimately had a choice to embrace Jesus Christ or reject Him.

Among other measures, he said he would like to see priests receive training in evangelization and conversion.

Ahead of the General Synod, Eddy says he has managed to secure support for his motion from a number of synod members, including Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali, a Pakistan-born clergyman whose outspoken comments have upset some Muslims.

In recent weeks, Nazir-Ali has repeated earlier warnings that the decline of Christianity has weakened Britain and led to many neighborhoods in British cities becoming “no-go areas” for non-Muslims.

Several priests working in predominantly Muslim inner-city areas have criticized the bishop’s comments, saying they have experienced support and friendliness from their neighbors.

Meanwhile, it was reported Sunday that two American missionaries who handed out Christian tracts in a mainly Muslim neighborhood in Birmingham earlier this year were allegedly accused by police of committing a hate crime.

The Christian Institute, a British charity which is supporting the two men, said the missionaries were warned that they would be taken to the police station and that they could “beat up” if they returned to the area.

Lawyers for Arthur Cunningham and Joseph Abraham are seeking an apology from the West Midlands Police, the force under which Birmingham falls, along with compensation for damages and legal costs.

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said Monday that since the matter had been referred to an independent police complaints commission, she could not comment on it.

The spokeswoman did say, however, that there were no “no-go” areas in the city and that the force would defend the rights of anyone to freedom of expression and faith.

Mike Judge, a spokesman for the Christian Institute, said the incident was another example of how freedom of religion was being chipped away in Britain.

He said he knew of at least half a dozen incidents in recent times in which Christian missionaries had been harassed on the streets.

“There should not be a spare inch of Britain where you cannot share the Gospel,” he said.