The role of Faith in the Armed Forces

In the era of Brexit rhetoric where the favourite phrase seems to be ‘take back control’ which has left a sour taste in many people’s mouths about immigration. Many people have started to question what contribution immigrants make to Britain. Some people suggest nothing at all, others are comforted that immigrants offer their skills in areas such as healthcare and within our NHS but have we paused for a moment to think about the great sacrifice that immigrants make to defend and protect Britain and British people?

I had never really paused to think about that until last year. I attended an event which the City of Wolverhampton and Interfaith Wolverhampton hosted about the role of faith in our Armed Forces as we approached Armed Forces Day.

The event provided the community with the opportunity to learn firstly about the wide range of faith communities within the Armed Forces; Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Jews, Muslims and more. But, also about the fantastic work that faith communities outside of the Armed Forces are doing to support our men and women in defence.

The facts and figures left me feeling stupidly ignorant; we have over 4000 Buddhists serving in defence, we have chaplains from all the faith groups listed above providing crucial pastoral support to these men and women serving in our Armed Forces.

Having attended the event, I left feeling confident. Confident in answering the question that (recently) so often comes up, ‘what do immigrants contribute to our country?’ Well, pictured in this blog, on the left of me is Chaman Sandhu who is a Sikh who has served for 5 years in the army. Pictured on my right is Squadron Leader Amir Khan, who is a Muslim who has served in the RAF for 34 years with a tour list longer than my arm which includes; Turkey, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo just to name a few. Their contribution to Britain (as second generation immigrants) is this- almost 40 years in service defending our country.I was also left with a sense of personal responsibility. Bishop Clive of Wolverhampton pointed out on Tuesday, that it is easy to blame the media or Politicians for the information that society is filled with about immigration and other topics but we all have a personal responsibility to act in a way which spreads the message of love, unity and the ability to have an open heart and mind.

So, let’s all take some responsibility. Let’s celebrate our multi faith armed forces who make incredible sacrifices in the name of our country. Let’s share our learning of Squadron Leader Amir Khan or about the 4000 Buddhists serving in defence. For me, these are some of the things that ‘make Britain great’.