A Flag Flying High on Westminster Abbey

We are currently in what is traditionally known as Holy Week; it remembers the events of the Lord Jesus’ death and resurrection and the days leading up to them. Although it is a term than a dissenting minister such as I would not readily use, it highlights the season’s Christian significance. Yet during this year’s holy week, the flag of Pakistan was raised on Westminster Abbey, replete with crescent moon. I would like to say it was raised in honour of Pakistani Christians who are regularly discriminated against, but it wasn’t. At the same time, central London is illuminated by hundreds of ‘Happy Ramadan’ lights and signs, funded by the Aziz Foundation and switched on by the Mayor. An Opposition councillor at Westminster, who supports the Ramadan lights, was on record asking:

"The thing I would question is this: there has been a Ramadan celebration in the window of Westminster City Hall. But I just wonder if the Easter one is going up very soon?"

I think we know the answer to his question.

Muslims must be free to celebrate their faith in this pluralistic society we have been pleased to create. Yet any who object to the flag or the lights ought to remember that Christianity has become so weak and marginalised because so few of the population now adhere to it. Truth is ignored and lies are promulgated; light shrinks while darkness grows. Godlessness and idolatry flourish more than ever, but the Lord Jesus promised:

I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18b