As the suicide bombings in London challenge our perception of religious and cultural harmony, the Rev Paul Walker looks at what it means to be a British Muslim.

At one time the issue of culture and religion was easy to grasp. This was a Christian nation and people who had other faiths lived far away in exotic countries. I can still remember when a mixed marriage meant a Protestant marrying a Catholic. Here, in the North-East of England, that was not so very long ago.

Today, our world looks so very different. In the hospital trust for which I work we are currently thinking about building a new hospital at St Luke's in Middlesbrough. This will mean a new chapel, only we won't call it a chapel, it will rather be a multi-faith centre where people of all faiths and none can worship God or contemplate in their own way.

Personally, I find the whole thing very exciting. Only today I was talking to a Muslim colleague about ensuring we will have the correct washing facilities to allow Islamic patients and staff to be able to pray.

Like many people I find the mix of cultures and religions in this country extremely stimulating. And yet the events in London over the last few weeks, to some extent, challenge this. We do ourselves and our country a disservice if we do not acknowledge that our country and our way of life are hated by certain people. As it happens, all of the bombers in London, as in Madrid and New York, have been Muslims. Moreover, their Islamic faith has not been coincidental but their understanding of it has driven them into their actions.

All the Muslims I know have been as horrified as me about what has happened. But that does not take away the facts. It is now incumbent upon the Muslims of Britain to consider what it means to be a Muslim and British. We are looking to these people to consider how they might play a full part in our multi-faith, multi-cultural society. If that cannot be done, our society is under threat. This is not simply about Britain; we live in a global village with the capability to destroy one another. The very survival of the world depends upon our ability to get along.

In this situation it is not simply a matter of wanting slightly different things. When I was growing up, the terrorist threat came from Northern Ireland. I may have disagreed with the IRA's tactics but I fully understood their demands. They wanted a united Ireland and felt that the partition of the country had been illegal.

At the same time, the global threat came from the Communist east. The Soviet Union and its allies may have been politically ruthless and economically incompetent but we understood their world-view in which all should be equal and the workers treated the same as the bosses.

In other words, those with whom we disagreed may have been wrong or stupid, but we understood them. The IRA, the Soviets and so on all shared a Christian and post-Christian understanding of the world. Those who seem to threaten us today have a different world-view. It is not simply that we disagree with them; rather we do not understand them. Until and unless we do understand, I see no prospect of an end to this terrible situation the world finds itself in.

Most people in Britain today do not have a strong faith. I make that as a comment, not a criticism. Yet, without such a faith, it is quite hard to understand those for whom faith dominates every thought and action.

For Muslims, God (Allah) has graciously told us how to live. He has done this through the teachings of the prophets such as Abraham and Jesus. But most of all He has done this by revealing to us the Holy Koran through the final prophet Mohammed. This is Allah's final message.

As I understand it, investigating the Koran, and living by its teachings are the only way to please God. Following this teaching overrides all other considerations of race, nationality or even family. Muslims also see themselves as close to Christians and Jews who they call the "people of the book".

In certain circumstances this has led to wonderful acts by Muslims. For example, during the slaughter in Rwanda when Hutus and Tutsis (both mainly Christian) were killing each other for racial reasons, Hutu and Tutsi Muslims defended and protected each other because, regardless of race, their faith made them brothers and sisters. Muslims see themselves as a global community united in their commitment to the Koran, to the five pillars of Islam and to the later teachings of the prophet Mohammed.

Most Muslims, united as they are, see a great attack upon themselves by western powers. The reasons for this are many. As I said, Muslims see themselves as united and so they also see attacks on other Muslims as attacks on themselves. For most, the ousting of Palestinians from their homeland to create the state of Israel is seen as a terrible act of injustice which has been made possible by the support given to Israel by the mighty United States. Likewise, hated dictatorships, such as in Saudi Arabia, have been propped up by the West, it is seen, in order to fuel by oil the destructive consumerism of western capitalism. All this has escalated since the West has become embroiled in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And all this, many Muslims believe, has been done at the expense of ordinary Muslim men and women who are their brothers and sisters. I hope that this is a fair description of the feelings of many, perhaps most, Muslims.

However, for some, this is not only about justice, it means war. This minority of Muslims do not only see themselves as united to each other but united against the rest of the world, particularly the West. They have concluded that such is the corruption of the West that it must be destroyed. It is not only aggrieved Palestinians or Afghans, it is not only Osama bin Laden and his allies, but ordinary young men born and bred in Britain who feel themselves to be part of this war.

This situation is intolerable. If it were to continue it would be terrible for us all, not least Muslims living in Britain. It is time for the Muslim leadership in this country to make it clear to their people that there is a difference between a genuine grievance and the way it is responded to. We cannot allow our country to be so threatened.

I realise that in writing this I am a Christian minister. I invite Muslims reading this article to correct me where I am wrong, to become part of the debate. I say to Muslim people living in the North-East that I am delighted that you are living among us and enriching our lives, but you have a responsibility to tell us what it means to be British and Muslim. You have a responsibility to your country and to your own brothers and sisters to make sure we continue living together in peace. So, as you would say in Arabic, salaam, peace.

* Paul Walker is Chaplain of St Luke's Hospital, Middlesbrough.