Fury at 'No-go' areas ruled by the fanatics

He warned that Christians and other non-Muslims faced hostility in areas of towns and cities dominated by fanatics.

The outspoken Bishop of Rochester, the Church of England’s only Asian bishop, expressed concern about “pressure” to introduce aspects of Islamic sharia law into British society.

The Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali also questioned demands for mosques to be able to publicly broadcast calls to prayer.

He further blamed Government-sponsored multi-culturalism for spawning increasing separation between Muslims and other faiths. The bishop’s remarks angered some supporters of multi-culturalism, while one Muslim organisation accused him of inciting religious hatred and urged him to resign.

But he was praised in other quarters for speaking out. Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the bishop had drawn attention to a “deeply serious problem”.

Pakistan-born Bishop Nazir-Ali, whose father converted from Islam to Christianity, said that Britain was rapidly losing its Christian heritage.

“One reason is the arrival of large numbers of people of other faiths,” he said. He feared that British people were “losing confidence in the Christian vision which underlay most of the achievements and values of the culture.”

Multi-cultural policies had bred “separate communities, continuing to communicate in their own languages and having minimum need for building healthy relationships with the majority.”

A result of the surge of Islamic extremism “has been to further alienate the young from the nation in which they were growing up and also to turn already separate communities into no-go areas where adherence to this ideology has become a mark of respectability.”

Bishop Nazir-Ali warned: “Those of a different faith or race may find it difficult to live or work there because of hostility to them.”

He added: “Attempts have been made to impose an Islamic character on certain areas, for example by insisting on artificial amplification for the call to prayer.”

Amplifying the call from Mosque minarets was “unknown throughout most of history”, the bishop pointed out.

“Its use raises questions about noise levels and whether non-Muslims wish to be told the creed of a particular faith five times a day on the loudspeaker.”

He added: “There is pressure already to relate aspects of the sharia to civil law in Britain.”

Some banks had already set up Islamic-compliant accounts, but the observance of sharia law could be extended much further, he warned.

“It is now less possible for Christianity to be the public faith in Britain,” said the bishop.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis praised the bishop for highlighting a “deeply serious problem”.

“The Government’s confused and counter-productive approach risks creating a number of closed societies instead of one  open cohesive one,” said Mr Davis.

He added that Labour’s support for multi-culturalism risked creating “voluntary apartheid”.

But Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said Bishop Nazir-Ali had “put it too strongly”.

Mr Hague said: “I don’t think that view is factually correct. I’m not sure where these no-go areas are, I don’t recognise that description.

“I think the fact a bishop is speaking about this kind of thing does underline one point, which is that we need to do much more to integrate people to make sure that our community and our society works well together.

“That is something we have been emphasising in the Conservative Party in the last two years.”

But the Ramadan Foundation, a Muslim youth organisation, reacted angrily to the bishop’s remarks.

Spokesman Mohammed Shafiq  feared that they could cause “unnecessary division and hatred towards Muslims”.

Mr Shafiq added: “We therefore call on him to resign. The reality is that the United Kingdom is a majority Christian country but is also a country of multi-faith.

“I believe the UK celebrates this diversity and all religious communities should work together to build respect and an environment of tolerance. Mr Nazir-Ali is promoting hatred towards Muslims and therefore should resign.”

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said: “I strongly disagree with the bishop. I don’t think he has produced any evidence that there are no-go areas – that is an extraordinarily inflammatory way of putting it.

“I know our cities quite well and I don’t think you can describe them reasonably as no-go areas for non-Muslims.” But he added: “That’s not to say there is not a legitimate debate to be had about the identity of modern Islam in modern Britain.”

A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: “The overwhelming majority of Muslims are peaceful, make a huge contribution to British life and find the views of a small minority of  extremists completely abhorrent.

“Britain also has a proud tradition of different communities living together side by side.

“But we are not complacent – the Government has completely rebalanced its community cohesion strategy, putting far greater emphasis on promoting integration and shared British values.”