Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, the Pakistani-born former Anglican Bishop of Rochester, England and co-head of the Anglican-Al Azhar Dialogue, warned against the rising threat of a “tyranny of the majority” in countries affected by the Arab Spring in a speech hosted by Christian Solidarity International, a Christian human rights group.

In a lecture entitled, “The Arab Spring and its Aftermath: Implications for Muslim-Christian relations,” Bishop Nazir-Ali criticized the West for its “love affair” with democracy promotion in the Middle East while overlooking the influence of Sharia law in those countries that has historically related women, Christians and other religious minorities to second-class citizens.

Bishop Nazir-Ali also warned against the “Islamic resurgence” in the region and the coming “huge-scale Shi’a-Sunni conflict” that will determine the fate of the region’s Christian minorities.

Since the “Arab Spring” revolutions began in late 2010, Middle Eastern Christian minority groups, especially in Syria and Egypt, have come under increasing persecution as a result of the decline of state protections and the rise of Islamic fundamentalists.