Catholic World News News Feature
Mosque construction plan stirs dispute in Cologne June 26, 2007
A group called Pro Koln is protesting the construction of a mosque in Cologne, Germany.
Plans for the mosque call for the construction of two minarets rising to a height of 180 feet. Opponents are protesting the prominence of the building rather than the existence of the mosque. An opinion poll carried out by the Omniquest agency found that only 31% of the respondents oppose the construction of the mosque, but an additional 27% protest the present design. At the same time, almost 70% of Cologne residents said that German Muslims should have their own places of worship.
Church leaders in Germany have used the controversy as an occasion to renew their calls for reciprocal respect for religious freedom in predominantly Islamic countries.
In an interview for the German radio station Deutschlandfunk, Cologne's Cardinal Joachim Meisner said, "Muslims should have the right to practice their religion in Germany." But he added that Christians should be equally free to practice their religion in Islamic lands. "Mistrust stems from the fact that German Muslims do not protest at all when in Muslim countries, Christians are discriminated against or killed," he observed.
The head of the German bishops' conference, Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz, sounded the same theme. "I would like to be able to celebrate Holy Mass in Saudi Arabia and not be imprisoned," he said. "True religious freedom can only be practiced reciprocally."
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