IN 1998 the travel writer William Dalrympyle wrote a book entitled From the Holy Mountain in which he described a journey he had made four years earlier across the Middle East in the footsteps of someone who done the same in 578AD.

He points out that Islam has traditionally been tolerant of religious minorities but that ‘after centuries of co-existence witj their Muslim neighbours, things are suddenly becoming difficult for the last Christians in the Middle East.’ In 1998 they constituted only 14 million amid 180 million non-Christians, hundreds of thousands leaving every year.

Since the second Iraq war and the Civil war in Syria, things have become much, much worse. What is happening there now is an appalling tragedy of unprecedented proportions.

The vast majority of victims of the so-called ‘Islamic State’ are Muslims who are being killed and oppressed by fanatics but Christians are especially vulnerable to dreadful persecution. There is something heartbreaking about the fact that, after 2000 years, Christianity is being systematically eliminated from the region of its birth.

This tragedy is a forceful reminder of how ethnic and religious divisions can cause untold suffering. Christians in this country have a generally good relationship with Muslims and those of other faiths.

Here in Worcestershire we are good friends and it is vital that this friendship should continue and grow.

We recently invited an Imam to our Worcester Diocesan Synod. During one Inter Faith week I attended Friday prayers in Worcester and the Imam came to evensong in the Cathedral. This year Inter Faith Week runs from November 15-21 and I hope many people will want to become involved.

It is not necessary to wait until then though, for each of us to hold out a hand of friendship.

There may be very little that any of us can do to ease the appalling situation in Syria but pray. We can, though, show that there is a better way, and make clear that neither Christianity nor Islam is a faith which promotes anything but love and respect for all human beings.

Both faiths hold that human beings are made in the image of God and therefore deserve infinite respect.

The word Islam is derived from the Arabic for peace.

I pray that that peace may prevail and that those who twist religion into a force to hate never have the last word, here or elsewhere.

RIGHT REV DR JOHN INGE Bishop of Worcester