If Muslims ask for Europe’s "empty" churches...

[thedarknight]

I read a recent news article about one American church that shares their space for Muslim worship.

What do you think about sharing your Church space with Muslims?

Father Samir Khalil, a Jesuit priest and scholar of Islam writes:

Rome (AsiaNews) - A Muslim group has asked to use the empty churches in France for Muslims to pray in, solving (at the expense of Christians) the traffic problems caused by Muslims who pray in the streets. Fr. Khalial Samir Samir, an expert scholar of Islam, reflects on the embarrassing proposal, calling for Islam in Europe to become more “European” and less “Arab”.

In a press release published Friday, March 11, 2011, the "Banlieuses Respect " Collective asked authorities in charge of organization of the Church of France, to place at Muslims’ disposal “empty churches for Friday prayers”. Hassan M. Ben Barek, a spokesman for the Collective, said the measure would “prevent Muslims from having to pray on the streets” and being "politicians’ hostages”.

In fact, for several years now, every Friday, alongside dozens of mosques in France, Muslims have blocked the surrounding streets for an hour or two, spreading mats on the roads to pray. In many cases, local authorities close their eyes to this offense, and in some cases the police are there to ensure the safety of those who block the streets. This situation is on the rise in France (for example, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier. Montreuil, Nice, Paris, Puteaux, Strasbourg, Torcy …). A situation that is found all over the world (Athens, Brussels, Birmingham, Cordova, Moscow, New York …) and also in Italy (Albenga, Canicattì, Como, Gallarate, Milan, Modena, Moncalieri, Naples, Rome …). In the Muslim world this phenomenon is present, especially in Egypt. On 10 December, in Lyon, Marine Le Pen (National Front) denounced the Muslims “street prayers”, which led to negative reactions towards the Muslim community in France.

Three points:

1.   first on the reason for this request, namely the lack of space in the mosques;

1.   second on the consequences of this lack of space, namely congested streets near mosques;

1.   third on the proposed solution to solve this problem, namely "the provision of churches empty for Friday prayers."

Read more here

 

[valentino]

theDarknight:why?dont they have enough money to get their own church?Are you talkiig about Catholic or non catholic church?

 

[dzheremi]

What do you mean “if”, and what do you mean “ask”? This story from Belgium shows that this has already been happening for a while.

I disagree with Fr. Khalil about Islam needing to become less “Arab” and more “European”. More than asking for something that we can’t expect and will never happen, these horrifying situations don’t need to happen if the churches and Christians take a hard line against appeasing Islam at all. Of course, that would require some spine and respect of their own religion over someone else, so that’s never going to happen, either.

 

[thedarknight]

@ dzheremi: The title of this thread is borrowed from Fr. Samir Khalil Samir’s article

I will reply with my thoughts on this later today.

 

[dzheremi]

I know…but he’s not here to ask those questions to…

 

[StrawberryJam]

So, my parish should stop the yoga classes it gets money from by renting the space out.
They should stop the Jazzercize group that also rents their space.
Fine.
Then you should be in charge of paying the bills from now on.
Come up with a way to make it happen if you are so offended by the way it is happening.
Let us see how prayers of the faithful work.
Pray the bills away, even with tax free status.

 

[T_More]

Since Islam considers images in a place of worship to be blasphemous, I can’t see this happening in a Catholic place of worship.

 

[LDNCatholic]

So, my parish should stop the yoga classes it gets money from by renting the space out.

Actually, if the Yoga taught involves Hindu religious meditation practices and is not merely a fitness class utilising the postures and stretches, then yes, the church probably should stop renting the space out. I assume by ‘‘space’’ you mean a parish centre, not the church.

If you’re talking about them renting the actual church building out for yoga and jazzercise, then something in your parish has gone seriously awry.

 

[Liraco]

So, my parish should stop the yoga classes it gets money from by renting the space out.
They should stop the Jazzercize group that also rents their space.
Fine.
Then you should be in charge of paying the bills from now on.
Come up with a way to make it happen if you are so offended by the way it is happening.
Let us see how prayers of the faithful work.
Pray the bills away, even with tax free status.

**1759 **“An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention” (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. praec. 6). The end does not justify the means

Strawberry, it should stop the yoga classes now, even if they got a million dollars for those classes. If it’s in such dire need for money that it does other things like jazzercise, that’s the parish priest’s decision, but jeopardizing souls by allowing another religious current should never be done, ESPECIALLY not for money.

Yoga is a spiritual discipline. Sure, it may be watered down at your parish, but what if someone then decides to dive deeper into the real thing? There is no Yoga without Hinduism and no Hinduism without Yoga.

You seem to mockingly ask us to pray away debts but, to those with faith, God will provide.

I’m reminded of Jesus overturning tables at the temple and making a whip to get people out for people treating the temple as a place of commerce and not worship.

On the temples being used for muslim worship: what if they are allowed in but then they have to listen for a half hour to a good apologist who knows about Islam?
I hope the Catholic priests don’t allow the temples to be used for this. The article didn’t seem to mention anything beyond the generic “christian” though.