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Over the last few days I've been watching the excitement as thousands of visitors arrive in Glasgow for the commonwealth games; it’s a celebration of hospitality and diversity. But the contrast with what’s been going on in another city, Mosul in Iraq, couldn't be greater. The violence there has meant a gradual exodus of Christians from their homes but over the weekend the militant group ISIS gave them an ultimatum – convert to Islam or face death. Most of the Christians fled by the Saturday deadline becoming refugees in nearby Kurdish towns. The Chaldean patriarch Louis Sako said in a moving statement `that the fraternal life between Muslims and Christians had together built a civilisation and a heritage and for the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.' Some families talk of returning one day to their homes and churches, others speak sadly that no longer will the call of the minaret and the sound of the church bells be heard together in this city. Surely the Christian presence and that of other persecuted minorities guarantees the Muslims too a better life and it seems to me that the loss of Christian communities should be seen as a scandal to the Muslim conscience. This kind of vicious extremism knows no boundaries and if Muslims and governments don't speak out then it’s only a matter of time before such groups move onto their next target. All this is being done in the Month of Ramadhan, sacred and observed by millions and coming to an end this weekend as Muslims prepare to celebrate Eid. But at a time when hundreds have lost their lives in conflicts around the world including areas where Muslims are killing Muslims, how do we celebrate? These are not distant wars, they touch our lives in all kinds of ways, often dividing our relatively peaceful societies here in the UK. At a time when Islam and extremism are conflated in the minds of many, how can we instil hope that religious faith can bring out the best in us as well as the worst? The Qur'an says God will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.' At the very least this demands that we show courage and care for the flourishing of others as well as our own. Whoever lives next door to us is our neighbour and we have duties of hospitality towards them whether it’s in the ravaged city of Mosul where people are being driven out or at the celebrations in Glasgow. Kindness and friendship or violence and discrimination, either way the impact runs deep. When Eid arrives we should be thankful for the freedom to worship in our cities across the UK even as we remember and pray for those who are being denied this very right.