The Man Who Should Have Been Archbishop of Canterbury

News that the Rt. Rev. Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali, Anglican Bishop of Rochester, England, is retiring early — A troublesome priest in a timid church. A brief bio: "Born in Karachi to parents who converted to Christianity from Islam, the first non-white diocesan bishop in Britain emerged as an outspoken critic of multiculturalism."

The article notes, "His views on Muslims were said to have ruled him out of succeeding George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury." It was during my last year as a guest of the Anglican Communion (I was on the verge of formally joining in 2002 when I got cold feet and ended up swimming the Tiber by the end of the year) when Bishop Nazir-Ali was one of two candidates selected by Her Most Britannic Majesty for the Communion's top post, and the one I supported. Prime Minister Tony Blair, now a Catholic lecturing the Pope on gays, selected his rival.

"Bishop Nazir-Ali intends to take up the cause of persecuted Christian minorities in the Middle East, Pakistan and places like Orissa in India... but there is no doubt that conservatives in the Church of England have lost their most outspoken champion."

[link via Crunchy Con]