If total peace will ever be achieved in the world, it must start from the house of God and among religious people. In Scotland, a church has become the first in the UK to share its premises with Muslim worshippers.
St John’s Episcopal Church in Aberdeen now welcomes hundreds of Muslims praying five times a day in their building as the nearby mosque was so small that they were forced to worship outside.
What a beautiful thing to do! Respect for each others religion is the way forward. We cannot all belong to one religion but what we can do is to embrace that of each other and when necessary, share resources…
Via MailOnline
The minister of St John’s, Rev Isaac Poobalan, has handed over part of the church hall to Chief Imam Ahmed Megharbi and the imam has led prayers in the main chapel.
Rev Poobalan said today that he would not be true to his faith if he did not offer to help.
He said: ‘Praying is never wrong. My job is to encourage people to pray.
‘The mosque was so full at times, there would be people outside in the wind and rain praying.
‘I knew I couldn’t just let this happen – because I would be abandoning what the Bible teaches us about how we should treat our neighbours.
‘When I spoke to people at the church about the situation, someone actually said to me this was not our problem, but I had seen it with my own eyes, so it was a problem.
Rev Poobalan said: ‘They were out there praying and the snow came on for the first time in winter, it was really hard to watch.
‘When they were doing the prayer they had their hands and feet exposed and they were sitting on on the pavement, which is very rough.
‘You could even see them breathing because it was so cold and I think when I saw that, the visual impact was such that I just couldn’t walk past.
‘It felt wrong, mainly because the church is next door, it’s a big building and it remains empty on a Friday lunchtime which is when they need the place most as that’s when they are at their busiest.
‘We had something we could offer and they were just standing out in the cold and I said to my congregation “we need to do something”.’
Rev Poobalan said he wanted the move to help build bridges between Christians and Muslims after some initial resistance from his congregation about the move.
This an amazing to to happen but …..
Stop writing like a Holy Monk or Mother Theresa about to save the world. You are Chris, you should be insulting people. What are all these peace and love stuff.
@Joseph Midnight, is this all you could write?? Shame!!
we must engage in interfaith dialogue as those who seek each other’s good, for the one God unceasingly seeks our good. Indeed, together with you we believe that we need to move beyond “a polite ecumenical dialogue between selected religious leaders” and work diligently together to reshape relations between our communities and our nations so that they genuinely reflect our common love for God and for one another.i love this article It seems pretty clear to me that Muslims and Christians do worship the same God, One Lord, one faith,
Once again good article from. Mail online
Very beautiful and loving thing to do…..This man of God really knows his Bible!!
it should not be because the mosque is too small but rather Cristians and Muslims are one we are children of God. A church in Ghana has combined Cristians and Muslims togather because we understand that we all worship the same Allah.