Church questions terror policy

The response by the UK and US governments to international terrorism is at some points disproportionate and fails to recognize the underlying causes of terrorism, according to two Church of England Reports.

Facing the Challenge of Terrorism, published in October and debated by General Synod in November, argues that insufficient attention to the international situation and the details of Islamic thinking on politics and violence has left in place an impoverished understanding of 'extremism' as a guide to policy.

The motion unanimously carried by Synod can be found at www.cofe.anglican.org on the General Synod pages.

The report from the Church's Mission and Public Affairs Council argues that British Christians need to "make a sober estimate of our collective responsibility for the state of the world, and a commitment to work for change in the light of the reign of God." Listening to the testimony of Muslim voices means "encountering different narratives of injustice and violence from those we habitually adopt as our own."

An earlier report from a working group of the House of Bishops took a more global view of terrorism. Countering Terrorism: Power, Violence and Democracy post 9/11, affirmed the legitimacy of taking action against rogue states, in "anticipatory self defence." It argued that "pre-emptive military action" might "under certain circumstances be regarded as morally justifiable." But this was to be "clearly distinguished from preventative war… which is morally more problematic."

Facing the Challenge of Terrorism, presented by the Bishop of Southwark, Rt Rev Tom Butler, judges that, in reconciling the demands of security and liberty, the UK Government's latest Terrorism Bill is on the whole defensible. However, it expresses scepticism about the case for detaining terrorist suspects without charge for up to 90 days and warns against the progressive erosion of civil liberties and freedom of speech.

One section of the report responds to the Home Office consultation paper Preventing Extremism Together: Places of Worship, which proposed that action should be taken against places of worship where "extremist preachers, clerics or teachers" or their supporters have disseminated extremist views and practices connected with terrorism.

Dr Butler said that "targeting places of worship under blanket provisions is excessive and disproportionate."