Monthly Archives: March 2008

Pope makes another positive contribution to Christian-Muslim relations

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pope 2Pope Benedict has baptised Magdi Allam, a Muslim-born journalist who has converted to Catholicism, during an historic Easter mass. A statement released by the Vatican less than an hour before the start of the Saturday ceremony confirmed Mr Allam’s conversion, adding: “For the Catholic Church, each person who asks to receive baptism after a deep personal search, a fully free choice and adequate preparation, has a right to receive it.”

After baptising Mr Allam – who was born in Egypt – Pope Benedict said a homily reflecting on the meaning of the procedure. “We no longer stand alongside or in opposition to one another,” he explained. “Thus faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people are overcome, in the Lord we have become close.”

Muslim commentators have said Mr Allam’s baptism was his own decision but have criticised the high profile his conversion was given by the Vatican.

In the News, 23 March 2008

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‘Christianity and Islam race for prominence at Olympic Park’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Olympics is meant to promote solidarity – but the 2012 Games has become a question of faith for some in East London as Christianity and Islam vie to become the most visible religion around the 500-acre park.

Muslim leaders have begun a charm offensive with residents in the borough of Newham over controversial plans to build a 12,000-capacity “super-mosque” on the edge of the Olympic Park. Trustees of the Abbey Mills Mosque conducted tours of the 18-acre site in West Ham last week to show they had “nothing to hide”, say their Westminster lobbyists.

The Kingsway International Christian Centre, which claims to be the fastest-growing church in western Europe, wanted to build a church capable of holding 8,000 people – or five times the size of Westminster Abbey – after it was evicted from its home on the Olympic site.  The congregation is still homeless and “crammed” into a 1,000-seat cinema while it plans its appeal, according to Pastor Dipo Oluyomi.

Alan Craig, a local councillor and leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance Party, is fighting their cause. “The symbolism of the largest church in Europe coming down and the largest mosque going up is powerful,” he said. “The whole world will come to East London and they won’t see a church or a cathedral, they will see a mosque.”

He is accusing officials in Newham borough, where Christianity is the dominant religion, of bias towards the Islamic project after they invited 250 community groups to the mosque’s open weekend.

Times, 22 March 2008

French official dismissed over resistance to Muslim school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Al Kindi school demoThe French government dismissed a top regional education official Wednesday for vigorously opposing a new Muslim school and publicly complaining about pressure from Paris to stop obstructing its opening.

The Al-Kindi high school, in a suburb of Lyon in eastern France, finally admitted its first 22 pupils on March 5 after an eight-month struggle with Alain Morvan, the head of the school board. The struggle ended only when Paris intervened to permit the school to open.

A government spokesman, Jean-François Copé, said Morvan was replaced because “his behavior was not that of a senior official, whose task is to carry out government policy.”

Morvan’s stubborn campaign had become a sore point for French Muslims, and they accused him of Islamophobia for refusing them the right to begin a religious school although about one-fifth of all high schools in France are private, mostly Catholic.

In rejecting three requests to open the school, Morvan accused its founders of being “fundamentalists” and said he would sign refusals to open it “down to the last drop of ink.”

New York Times, 21 March 2007

Swiss minister sparks veil outcry

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Micheline Calmy-ReySwiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has been widely criticised for donning a white headscarf to meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Well-known for her stand on women’s rights, she has provoked headlines such as “Just like a submissive woman”.

Socialist MP Maria Roth-Bernasconi said it was irritating that she had angered feminists in Iran. Ms Calmy-Rey said she was observing protocol. “When you are a guest you respect local customs,” she said.

Social Democrat MP Liliane Maury Pasquier accepted that customs had to be observed. But she was quoted by one newspaper complaining that the minister should have shown solidarity with “the women who fight against wearing the headscarf”.

Swiss daily Le Matin said on Wednesday it was shocked that Switzerland’s “icon of a liberated woman” had been transformed into an image of one who was oppressed.

BBC News, 20 March 2008

Sleepy Cornish village kept awake by 700-strong party of Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“It is just a few days until Easter, the most important date in the Christian calendar. But for 700 Muslims who have gathered in a rural caravan park, this week has a different religious significance. And to some of their neighbours, the thrice-daily calls to prayer are proving a strain on a harmonious relationship. The Iranian Muslims have converged on the Trevelgue Holiday Park in Porth, Cornwall, to celebrate yesterday’s Persian New Year.”

Daily Mail, 20 March 2008

The original headline was “700-strong party of Muslims provoke fury after broadcasting call to prayer”.

High school student threatens to sue over teacher’s ‘terrorist’ remark

Posted on by Bob Pitt

CHICAGO —  An Illinois high school senior is threatening to file a discrimination lawsuit against his school district after he says a teacher told him he fit the stereotype of a terrorist and humiliated him in front of his peers.

Maysam Amanishourbariki, 17, who was born in the United States and is of Iranian heritage, claims his Italian language teacher told him last semester that he fit the stereotype of a terrorist during an exchange in class over his clothing.

“Right after she said it, one of the students – a freshman – got up and gave her a high five,” Amani told the Waukegan News-Sun. “I was like, ‘Is this kid serious?’ They treated it like a joke, but it’s not a joke.”

Fox News, 18 March 2008

Plans for Muslim centre withdrawn

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP Islam Out of BritainControversial plans for a Muslim community centre in Solihull have been withdrawn amid calls for greater acceptance towards minority groups.

Solihull Muslim Community Association (SMCA) applied for planning permission to establish the centre, complete with prayer hall, in Dog Kennel Lane, Shirley, with 50 parking spaces. Now the group – which has been searching for a home in the borough for 25 years – has announced that it has withdrawn the plans for “technical reasons”.

Fears were rife that racial tension could erupt in Solihull following a leaflet campaign by the BNP against plans for the centre which also included a wudu for washing before prayer. The leaflet, posted to homes near the proposed site, claimed there was an “Islamification” of Solihull and said the centre would lead to “conflict” and “discontent”.

A mother-of-three, who lives near the proposed centre and had objected to it, said she had mixed feelings about news of the application being withdrawn.

“I objected to the centre because of where it was on a busy road and I was concerned about overspill parking and I know other people objected on the same grounds,” said the woman, who did not wish to be named. “However, on the other hand I’m disappointed it’s been withdrawn and just hope it isn’t because of people with narrow minded views like the BNP. I felt sickened when their leaflet came through my door. I would hate the BNP to think it had won.”

Birmingham Mail, 18 March 2008

Meanwhile the fascists are crowing that “Solihull BNP has won a famous victory on behalf of local people”.

BNP news article, 18 March 2008

Migrants say discrimination undermines their sense of belonging in Britain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A report published today (19 March) found that nearly half of minority ethnic residents, including Muslims, said they had experienced race discrimination and 30 per cent of recent Muslim migrants had experienced religious discrimination. This was cited as a key barrier to a sense of belonging in Britain.

The report – Immigration, faith and cohesion – published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, was written by a team at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) at Oxford University. It looked at what factors contribute to, or undermine, community cohesion in three urban areas in England with large migrant and Muslim populations.

Most migrants felt there was no conflict in having a sense of belonging to both Britain and their country of origin. Sixty per cent of long-term Muslim residents born outside the UK said the people most important to them were in Britain.

Co-author Hiranthi Jayaweera from COMPAS said: “Evidence suggests that it is discrimination and the perception of being unwelcome, rather than attachment to their country of origin, that reduces migrants’ sense of belonging in Britain.”

Joseph Rowntree Foundation press release, 19 March 2008

See also Daily Mail, 19 March 2008