Minarets versus church spires (click here)
TOM HENEGHAN
Reuters
July 4, 2007 at 10:22 AM EDT
COLOGNE, Germany — A plan to build a large mosque in Cologne, home to one of Christianity's most imposing cathedrals, is causing sparks to fly in the once peaceful world of inter-religious dialogue in Germany.
The local Catholic leader, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, has said the project gives him "a bad feeling" and Turkey should allow its Christian minorities more rights if Turkish immigrants here can stamp a dome and tall minarets onto the city skyline.
At a discussion in Cologne with a Muslim leader last month, Germany's top Protestant bishop, Wolfgang Huber, criticized the "male domination" he saw in Islam and said Muslims should be able to convert to Christianity without fearing reprisals.
Bekir Alboga of the Turkish Islamic Union DITIB, which will build the mosque, has accused the churches of portraying Islam as a threat in order to rally their dwindling flocks.
"There's a new edge to the debate about Islam in Germany," the respected weekly Die Zeit observed. "Recognizing that Islam belongs in Germany was not the end, but only the beginning of a cultural conflict."...
