Oral Answers to Questions

Tim Loughton Excerpts

Thursday 27th April 2023 Commons Chamber

The hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, was asked—

[Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)]

1. What discussions the Church of England has had with international counterparts on the desecration of religious sites in the Holy Land.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

4. What discussions the Church of England has had with international counterparts on the desecration of religious sites in the Holy Land.

[The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Andrew Selous)]

In the first three months of this year, seven cases of serious vandalism and antisocial behaviour against churches have been recorded in Israel. That is a sharp increase on the previous year. The Church of England continues to work with the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem, the heads of other Churches, other faith leaders and the Jordanian Government, as custodian of the holy sites, to maintain the peace.

[Tim Loughton]

It was particularly galling to see these scenes in what is supposed to be a liberal democracy in the middle east: the desecration of Christian graves and other Christian sites—something that, I am afraid, we have become used to in other countries. These were effectively religious terrorists and extremists, with no regard for the Christian religion. What measures are taking place to ensure that, in future, Christians can celebrate the Easter fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem without facing undue restrictions as a result of the fear of violent clashes?

[Andrew Selous]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is right to draw attention to the Easter fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. That 2,000-year-old ceremony has repeatedly taken place without serious incident. It is certainly our view that the restrictions have been overly heavy-handed. As he will know, the Archbishop of Canterbury has called out what has been happening—the attacks on Christian graves and so on —as blasphemous attacks. The UK Chief Rabbi has also spoken out, as we need to do across the House. I hope the Foreign Office will have similar things to say.