There’s nothing sinister about Muslim prayers in Trafalgar Square. As a bishop, I reject the right’s attacks on worship | Arun Arora

When you think about the unedifying political furore about the open iftar held in Trafalgar Square, try to bear in mind that every year on Remembrance Day – a stone’s throw from Trafalgar Square – the bishop of London leads a public Christian act of lamentation in the open air. It is an act of religious observance which happens in cities, towns and villages across the country. Alongside the hymns sung, there are readings from the Bible and prayers made in the name of Jesus Christ, and a blessing invoking the holy trinity. In Leeds, where I have the honour of leading the service alongside the Roman Catholic dean of Leeds, I am accompanied by leaders from other faiths: Jewish, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim. We join together in this public, open-air, unmistakably Christian service.

Over years of attending and conducting such services – and others like it such as those held in memory of Queen Elizabeth II – I have never heard a complaint from those of other faiths that such services represented a “domination of the public sphere” or that such services in our civic spaces were “an expression of power and intimidation”.

Rather, these complaints have come from Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, in response to the open iftar held in Trafalgar Square. His argument has since been adopted by Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch, who have both sought to suggest that public iftars are an affront to the Christian values of our country.

Timothy’s suggestion that the public iftar event was part of an “Islamist playbook” seeking to replace Christianity is sufficiently irrational in its fear and scaremongering to make it definitive as an Islamophobic slur masquerading as public policy concern.

But Islamophobia is not a Christian value or Christian virtue. Our call as Christians is to create room for those with whom we disagree but see in them their God-given dignity. Our call is neither to dominate nor be dominated, but rather to seek the common good and to live at peace with our neighbour – and where we disagree, to disagree well. The attempts of those on the political right to elide Islamophobia and Christian values stand starkly at odds with true practice of the Christian faith.

Few people understood this better than Queen Elizabeth II, whose own Christian faith informed the speech she delivered at Lambeth Palace in 2012: “The concept of our established church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly underappreciated. Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.”

Such an understanding of the role of the church and the place of people of faith stands at odds with those calling for the practice of the Muslim faith to now be limited to behind closed doors on the spurious ground that public prayer is a threat.

As an editorial in Jewish News recently noted in a rejection of Timothy’s assertions: “Are there Islamists in this country who wish to assert their way of life over others? Of course. But it is hard to think of a more counterproductive way of combating such a thought process than by telling the many moderate Muslims that they – and they alone – should be unable to celebrate their faith in a public venue which they have booked for an event.”

Reports show that there is a rise in anti-Muslim violence in England and Wales. That parliamentarians are potentially emboldening such crime and violence through their comments is deeply worrying and highly irresponsible. The danger for us all is that such comments from senior politicians help to mainstream extremist ideologies that seek to eradicate Muslims from public life. At a time when our country has never felt more divided, we should draw on Christian values to reject such hate and to focus on what unites us.

• Arun Arora is bishop of Kirkstall in the diocese of Leeds

• Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.