Friday, March 29

Church offers to cover up cross for Ramadan


 

 

A church has raised eyebrows after offering to ‘cover up’ a cross and allow Muslims to say prayers in its building during Ramadan.

As part of the plans, men who attend a nearby mosque were reportedly invited to use the aisle of the parish church in Darlington as a place of prayer.

Muslim women were also offered space in adjoining rooms of St Matthew and St Luke’s church, it is claimed.

The proposals are said to have been discussed in a meeting on May 9 and attended by the Reverend Lissa Scott.

It is also claimed members were told that a devotional image of Jesus,  a copy of The Light of the World by the pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt, would be covered up, reports The Sunday Times .

The newspaper reported that minutes from the meeting read: “One aisle in church to be cleared of chairs for Muslim men to say prayers.

Cover Christian crosses/ photographs in small rooms for ladies to say prayers.

The Diocese of Durham has since intervened in the fiasco and told the church it must not hold Islamic prayers in the church building.

It stated that church law does not permit acts of worship by non-Christians in a Church of England building.

In a statement to Premier, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Durham said: “While it is vital to build good interfaith relations, it is clear that an act of worship from a non-Christian faith tradition is not permitted within a consecrated Church of England building.