Archbishop of Canterbury visits faith communties in Southall

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby travelled to Southall this week and visited a Church, a Hindu temple, a Gurdwara and a Mosque. He witnessed presentations about inter religious work given by the community, and plans to found a new inter religious centre on the site of the old St John’s Church.

In his speech, Archbishop Justin stated: “Diversity is a gift, not a threat; it is a hope, not a danger. The kind of country I want to live in has as one of its best examples what goes on in this area. I don’t want to live  in something that is mono-cultural.”

After his visit to the Central Jamia Mosque, the Archbishop also condemned the recent wave of attacks on Muslims following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby. He said, "I want to acknowledge the pressure that our Muslim friends and colleagues have faced over the last few weeks. There have been terrible attacks, I know that the vast majority of those in this country and especially people of faith would join me in condemning utterly any act of violence against anyone because of their faith.”

Full text of speech
The picture show Archbishop Justin meeting school children visiting the Sikh Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha  
Copyright  Marc Gascoigne.