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Feb 18

Speech to Jubilee+: “People who do God do good”

Introduction

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone and thanks to Lord Wei and Jubilee Plus for having me.

It’s a year to the day since I went to the Vatican.

To say clearly that Britain does do God.

And that Europe should be proud of its Christian heritage.

Some said that arguing for Christianity at the Vatican was like taking tea to china.

They were right: last Valentine’s Day was one big pro-faith love-in.

With the largest ministerial delegation ever to visit the Vatican.

Further strengthening the UK’s bond with the Holy See.

Do good

There is one big reason why I made the case for faith that day.

Why I continue to do so in my role as Minister for Faith at home…

And why, as a Foreign Office Minister, I have made freedom of religion and belief a priority…

And that’s because people who do God do good.

Read more

Feb 14

Telegraph: People who ‘do God, do good’, says Baroness Warsi

By , Religious Affairs Editor

Baroness Warsi will defend the right of Christians, Muslims, Jews and others to publicly practise their faith insisting that “people who do God do good”.

Her comments come in a speech in London marking the first anniversary of a landmark visit to the Vatican by a delegation of ministers in which she claimed that British society is under threat from the rising tide of “militant secularisation”.

It comes as new research lays bare the scale of Britain’s growing dependence on religious groups to meet social needs in the midst of recession.

Feb 14

Telegraph: Pope Benedict XVI has left us with a great legacy on which to build

Exactly one year after leading the largest UK Ministerial delegation to the Holy See, Sayeeda Warsi reflects on the Papacy of Pope Benedict XVI

By Baroness Warsi

A year ago today, I led the UK’s largest ever ministerial delegation to the Holy See. There is one moment of that trip which I recall particularly vividly: when six fellow ministers and I nervously assembled in Pope Benedict’s audience chamber in the Vatican, awaiting his arrival. The Holy Father seldom grants private audiences except to heads of state or government, and each of us sensed the importance of meeting the man who is the spiritual leader of more than a billion people and an inspiration to many more.

When the Holy Father entered the room, wearing his trademark bright red shoes, we were put at ease. The 84-year-old Pontiff greeted the party in turn. “Excellency!” he exclaimed when he saw another member of our group, the Archbishop of Westminster. Pope Benedict accepted our gifts – a King James Bible from the Prime Minister and an illustrated Quran from me – with grace. It was during the few private words I had with him that he urged me to continue making the case for faith in society.

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Feb 2

Speech to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Summit in Cairo

Baroness Warsi with His Holiness Pope Tawadros II

Baroness Warsi with His Holiness Pope Tawadros II

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Your Majesties, your excellencies, it is a pleasure to speak at this OIC Heads of State meeting – and a privilege that I’m the first British Government Minister to do so.

I am delighted to be here in Egypt, which among many other things is the home of Al Azhar, the ‘Manaratul ‘Ilm’ for many Muslims across the world. I was deeply honoured to have met his Eminence the Shaykh Al Azhar yesterday and His Holiness Pope Tawadros II today.

 

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Jan 27

Telegraph: Why you should visit Auschwitz

On Holocaust Memorial Day, Sayeeda Warsi explains the importance of visiting the sites of atrocities.

By Baroness Warsi

It was a bitterly cold day when I first visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the wind penetrated my thick coat and warm boots. As I stood in the place where millions of people were imprisoned and murdered, the haunting atmosphere made this whole event feel real – no longer a chapter in history but an actual place where people became the victims of the biggest atrocity in European history. Standing there, feeling that cold wind, seeing those bleak surroundings, the reality of what happened hit home in a way that no history book, TV documentary or historian had managed to do.

Years later, visiting Srebrenica sent a shiver down my spine in a very similar way. Srebrenica is a name that no longer denotes a town, but the massacre of thousands of men and boys, taken from their families and summarily killed by the forces of Ratko Mladic. That rural valley and the beauty of the hillside location stood stark against the pock-marked, bullet-ridden buildings, which silently stood witness to the utter horror of what took place there in July 1995. Read more

Jan 24

Times: ‘Profound mistrust’ fuelling anti-Muslim hatred, says Baroness Warsi

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent, and Richard Ford, Home Correspondent

 

Anti-Muslim hatred is being fuelled by “an underlying, profound mistrust” and a “misinformed suspicion” of people who follow Islam, according to the country’s most senior Muslim politician.

Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities, will warn today of a “particularly concerning” problem that she believes is “paving the way for anti-Muslim hatred”.

In a speech this evening to the Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks (MAMA) project, Lady Warsi will outline what she believes is a continuing “negative perception” of Muslims.

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Jan 24

Baroness Warsi’s speech at the Tell MAMA annual dinner

It’s nearly 2 years to the day since I made that speech about Islamophobia.

At the time I talked about the scourge of anti-Muslim hatred.

From violence on the streets to vitriol online.

And, dare I say it, derogatory comments at the dinner table…

When I said that Islamophobia had ‘passed the dinner table test’.

I meant anti-Muslim sentiment had become so socially acceptable, it could be found even in the most civilised of settings.

I got a fair amount of stick for making that statement.

There were those who denied the problem existed.

There were those who said talking about it was dangerous.

Read more

Jan 22

Independent: Baroness Warsi: Fewer than one in four people believe Islam is compatible with British way of life

By Oliver Wright

Fewer than one in four people now believe that following Islam is compatible with a British way of life, Britain’s most senior Muslim minister will warn today.

Highlighting unpublished research showing that a majority of the country now believes that Islam is a threat to Western civilisation Baroness Sayeeda Warsi will say that “underlying, unfounded mistrust” of Muslims is in itself fuelling extremism.

And she will cite new figures from the Association of Chief Police Officers showing that between 50 to 60 per cent of all religious hate crimes reported to police in Britain are now perpetrated against Muslims.

Read more

Jan 22

Times: Baroness Warsi leads international summit on freedom of religion and belief

Ruth Gledhill
 
Senior representatives from the Vatican, the United States and Canada are among those flying into Britain to discuss freedom of religion and belief at a high level meeting in London this week.
 
This is an issue particularly close to the heart of Baroness Warsi, Senior Minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Minister for Faith and Communities, who is hosting the gathering of foreign ministers and representatives from around the world.
 
The Baroness, a practising Muslim who is the first female Muslim Government minister in the UK, wants to address the issue of religious freedom within the context of the UN Human Rights Council resolution 16/18.

Jan 22

Baroness Warsi’s speech on tackling religious intolerance and fostering religious freedom and pluralism

High Level Ministerial Meeting, Lancaster House

Thank you all very much for joining me today.  Welcome to those who have travelled a long way to be here. I am delighted to have such a distinguished group of Ministers, Ambassadors and senior officials here. 

I believe that tackling religious intolerance and promoting freedom of religious belief are two deeply important issues. 

Religious intolerance too often is used as a pretext to deny an individual their basic freedom. It is used to deny them their rights to participate as equal citizens in society. To deny them the ability to manifest their faith, to share it and to practice it.

These are issues that are consistently raised by Parliamentarians in the UK, by our media and by our constituents.

But they also matter to me personally – as an individual, as a proud British person and as a practising Muslim in a majority Christian nation, and as a Minister responsible for promoting freedom of religion or belief both at home and abroad. 

I wanted to get a group of key individuals together to share experiences of what we each have done to date on Freedom of Religion or Belief and religious intolerance, and to see how we can work more closely together. How we can communicate better. 

I know all your countries have been active in this area.  I believe that between us we can influence the international debate.

I reject outright the notion some peddle that groups with different faiths and beliefs cannot co-exist peacefully, with respect for each other’s views.

However, some look to manipulate religious intolerance to achieve their own ends, sowing discord and conflict. 

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