That we shouldn’t be gratuitously offence to people who believe a little differently from ourselves is simply good manners. Once one of the highest aims of the peoples of these isles, to be good mannered. But it is possible to be excessively wishy washy while attempting to be so.
Take this about a church covering up a crucifix, varied Jesus related things, over Islam and Ramadan. This is really very silly indeed:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] 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. [/perfectpullquote]Objecting to that gender disparity would perhaps be reasonable. But covering up the cross? Why?
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] The Reverend Lissa Scott agreed for the celebration of the Muslim fast to take place in St Matthew and St Luke’s church in Darlington. As part of the event, the Reverend agreed to ‘cover up’ the church’s cross and a copy of The Light of the World, a well-known devotional painting of Jesus by the pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt. [/perfectpullquote]Sigh.
Really, if we’re all going to get pally with Muslims then we should at least try to understand Islam. Jesus is regarded as a prophet, rather than The Prophet, within that religion. To venerate him is just fine, even if that doesn’t extend as far as considering him the Son of God.
The problem therefore isn’t getting all community like this, it’s not bothering to find out what the belief system actually is. But then as the Church of England doesn’t really have a belief system who is that surprised?
It is, of course, possible that the covering is to accord with the non-representation of the human form regarded as part of Islam but that’s another matter. One where we say, well, this is our belief system and let’s be all community about it, shall we?
The language we use matters - it provides clarity to our own thoughts and enables…
It is now generally acknowledged that the structure of the NHS needs to be overhauled…
In the film Apollo 13, a loss of oxygen causes the crew to start inadvertently…
There's an idea out there which seems intuitive but then so many ideas do seem…
When we think about the darkly opaque goals of modern central bankers as they relate…
As the papers recently filled with the distressing images of desperate souls looking to escape…
View Comments
Because virtue signalling is now the holiest of holies?
Tim, it is JUST POSSIBLE that Reverend Scott has learnt a little about Islam while making friends with the local Muslim community (to the extent that she has noticed that more of them attend the mosque during Ramadan just as more nominal Christians attend church services at Easter and Christmas and Remembrance Sunday than other times) and that she therefore knows that depictions of human figures in religious places is a "No-No" for Muslims. You note that she offered separate rooms for female Muslims to pray, which suggests that she *does* know what she is talking about.
If she had offered to cover the cross but not the painting, your criticism might seem justified. While I prefer a plain crucifix, many Anglican churches do have crucifixes with a carving of a body on them so that would be a reason to cover it.
When I was at university during the last century, we covered the piano in the chaplaincy for the Friday service. While we joked it was because it was a devillish instrument, it was purely practical, it was covered up for the yoga group as well. Being a Scottish university, the Wee Frees would have had louder complaints. (This was around the time the Wee Wee Frees schismed, but before the Wee Frees schismed.)