Monday, September 15, 2008

Germany: Germans see large mosques as provocation

Many German think that mosques which are bigger than churches are a provocation.  This according to a debate which has started up again, after authorities gave their permission to the building of one of Europe's largest mosques in the city of Cologne.

While Cologne's conservative mayor, Fritz Schramma, strongly defends the buildings, his own party members have decided to oppose the projects, because they regard the building as a show of force from the side of the Muslims.

The mosque, which will be in the Ehrenfeld neighborhood, is so large it will be the most dominating building in the area.

Some of the sharpest protests came from immigrants who have turned their back on Islam.

"I can understand it if the citizens in Ehrenfeld see the new mosque as a distasteful show of power from the Muslim side," says for example Seyran Ates, who was born in Turkey.  In recent years she has thought for the rights of Muslim women in divorces and is also a member of the Islam-critical organization Ex-Muslims Central Council in Germany.

A similar debate already took place a year ago.  The then minister-president of Bavaria, conservative Edmund Stoiber, then required that cathedrals should continue to be taller than mosques.  His argument was that Christian Germans still make up a majority of the population and the country's leading culture is pervaded by Christianity.

This attitude is now supported also by representatives of another religious minority in Germany, the Jews.  The vice president of the Jewish Central Council in Germany, Salomon Korn, calls on Muslims to take into consideration the feeling of the population and to renounced buildings which cause the Germans irritations.

"For most Germany mosques look like exotic buildings and minarets are striking as ruling symbols," says Salomon Korn in an interview to newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau. He thinks that Muslims should get more modern mosques, that do not have the same form as traditional mosques.

The new mosque in Cologne will have two 55 meter high minarets and a large dome which is 35 meter high.  The dome will look like a see-through globe, so it will be possible to see into the mosque, which according to newspaper Die Zeit is a symbol of Muslim's openness towards the world.

Famous sociologist and Islam critic Necla Kelek, who herself comes from an orthodox Muslim family in Turkey, interprets the architecture differently.

"The globe is a symbol of conquest, and people can see the dome and the minarets as a Muslim demand to get world domination," she says.

Formerly Muslim congregations often had to pray in slums.  Now Germany is experiencing a downright building boom of mosques and different Muslims and politicians see this development as a sign that Muslims are integrating and becoming part of Germany society.

Ali Kizilkaya, spokesperson for the largest association of Muslim organizations, The Muslim Coordinating Council, is happy that the mosque in Cologne can now be built.

"It's an important signal that Muslims in Germany have a right to build dignified prayer houses.  Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble said that Muslims are part of German society and so mosques are also part of Germany," says Ali Kizilkaye.

Critics of the mosques, on the other hand, see the building's size as evidence that Muslims don't want to integrate.

"In these mosques lie the seeds for a parallel society.  We have already seen that particularly large mosques develop into their own cities, own Medinas," says Necla Kelek.

Famous humanist and atheist Ralpf Giordano agrees.

"The building permit is an anti-integration decision.  Just the mosque's size shows that Muslims are demanding power," he told TV station WDR.

Both the Catholic and Evangelical churches, on the other hand, officially support the building of mosques in Germany.  The Evangelical church in Cologne has also expressed joy that Muslim fellow citizens will have a dignified place to practice their faith.

Unofficially it looks differently.  Particularly in the Catholic church there is a lot of resistance against the new, large mosques.  Different forces in the church attempt to create a link between Muslim rights in the West and Christian rights in Muslim countries.  Cologne's cardinal, Joachim Meisner, had demanded, for example, that the Muslims in Germany start fighting for Christian rights in Muslims countries in return for the mosques they have been allowed to build here.

Augsburg's bishop, Walter Mixa, had warned the authorities against allowing such large buildings as the mosque in Cologne.

"In countries which are mainly pervaded by Muslim culture, Christian really have no rights, and therefore we shouldn't allow mosques with pompous minarets in Germany.  In a Christian society it's enough if the Muslims have a place where they can hold prayers," says Walter Mixa.

Journalist Rolf Krüger, journalist and head of a Christian Internet portal, estimates on the other hand, that it's much better for Germany's security, if slum mosques disappear and the congregations come out in daylight.

"That which we really are most afraid or, is not Islam's power, but on the contrary the fear of admitting that Christianity at the moment is the weakest in Europe," he writes as commentary to the debate about the large mosques.

Source: Kristeligt Dagblad (Danish)