I didn’t expect it to be so moving. I’ve visited and worshipped inside many churches in my life. But when my wife and I walked inside the St Francis Church, we were both moved to tears.
In part, that’s because this is a brand-new church, built just outside Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. On the same site, there also sits both a mosque and a synagogue, in the so-called Abrahamic Family House. As we sat and made silent prayers, I thought about why this complex impressed me so much.
The Emiratis have created a truly cosmopolitan society, with people from every walk of life brushing side by side. In some ways, it should be a leftist’s dream. But to make it work, the leaders of this Muslim country also understand that there can be absolutely no tolerance of intolerance, let alone crime.
This religious complex is a perfect microcosm of this concept. There is tight security to ensure peace and tranquillity, and there is a centre to explain the different faiths and help foster proper understanding on an even footing between them.
Outside this complex, Abu Dhabi and Dubai have some of the lowest crime rates in the world, making it safe to raise families and build businesses safe from the sort of random violence that is plaguing Britain.
Why? Because the penalties for such a crime are swift and immediate. There is also no tolerance of intolerance on a broader, more organised level.
The Muslim Brotherhood, an international network comprising those who seek to take over countries via democratic and institutional means in order to implement harsh, Islamist policies, are banned in the UAE. So too are the sorts of “charities” that fund them.
The UAE holds a devastating mirror up to Britain's hands-off approach to tackling radical Islam - James Price | Getty Images
By contrast, these charities have advertised on the London transport network perfectly legally, and the Brotherhood remains legal and permitted to plot the overthrow of all that we hold dear. So whilst the Emiratis allow people to come to work, to live and build careers and businesses, they force tolerance and toleration.
They have, of course, moved a long way from their quite austere beginnings, allowing alcohol and partying and other Western liberalisations to take hold.
But they have decided to forge a new national identity at the same time, based around prosperity and innovation. It isn’t perfect, but it is working marvellously.
Britain, meanwhile, faces an enormous challenge with integration. This is because it both allows new arrivals to bring old practices, totally unacceptable to us, with them to the UK, and at the same time asks the majority to eschew our traditions and ways for small groups of new arrivals.
This is why, in the name of ‘tolerance’ and ‘harmony’, we see official reports complaining that dogs and pints in pubs make Muslims in Britain dislike the countryside, whilst allowing the most backward practices to proliferate here.
Terrorism and bloodshed have been the result. We do not need to act as dramatically as the UAE, but to protect our way of life and help integration, we can learn from them how those of different religions and cultures can coexist.
In our case, we have an existing culture that has been proven to bring prosperity and joy, and it is ours. We should be intolerant of anything other than integration.
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