Radical bishop quits early for new mission

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5993021.ece

[Times Online] 30 Mar 2009--One of the Church of England’s most outspoken leaders is to quit his post in order to devote more time to working with Christian communities in predominantly Muslim areas.

Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who received death threats after claiming that parts of Britain had become “no-go areas” for non-Muslims, intends to work “where the church is under pressure” after stepping down as Bishop of Rochester a decade early.

Much of his new work will involve minority Christian groups in Pakistan - where he was born - and in the Middle East, but Nazir-Ali is thought to be keen to retain a domestic role in Britain as well.

As the church’s first nonwhite diocesan bishop, Nazir-Ali, 59, is a conservative evangelical who has rarely shied away from controversy.