I have been there. It is marvelous.
Posted on 06/24/2007 5:07:51 PM PDT by blam
Huge mosque stirs protests in Cologne
By Harry de Quetteville in Cologne
Last Updated: 12:39am BST 25/06/2007
The construction of one of Europe's biggest mosques near to a globally famous Christian landmark has sparked a furious row in Germany.
Immigration and integration are hugely sensitive questions in Germany, which is home to a Turkish community of several million. But almost within the shadow of Cologne Cathedral, political correctness has now been replaced by bitter confrontation as the city's Muslims begin to build a 2,000-capacity mosque with twin minarets that will reach 170ft.
"Muslims have been here for 40 years, yet people are praying in back rooms," said Seyda Can, an Islamic theologian at the Turkish Islamic Union in Cologne. "There are 120,000 Muslims in Cologne, that's 12 per cent of the population. We should not hide."
Work will begin in the autumn on the £15 million mosque, which will include huge glass and stone cupolas and two six-storey minarets.
Ms Can, who speaks fluent German, is an eloquent advocate for the mosque, arguing that when completed in 2009 it will aid the integration of a population sometimes regarded as outsiders.
"With this mosque Muslims will no longer think of their old countries as their home, but of Germany," she said.
"Two hundred years ago the first Protestant church was built in Cologne. It was a long process for Protestants to be accepted but today, of course, they are. Why can't we be the same?"
However, others believe that the mosque in the city's Ehrenfeld district, just two miles from the Gothic spires of Cologne Cathedral, will foster, rather that heal, divisions.
"It's not a popular plan," said Joerg Uckermann, the district's deputy mayor. "We don't want to build a Turkish ghetto in Ehrenfeld. I know about Londonistan and I don't want that here."
Mr Uckermann is part of a curious coalition of protest that has united Jewish intellectuals and neo-Nazis. Leading the charge is Ralph Giordano, a prominent Jewish author, who wrote recently that Germany was witnessing a "clash of two completely different cultures" and questioned whether they could ever be reconciled.
Stating that he had received death threats for his opinions, he added: "What kind of a state are we in that I can face a fatwa in Germany?"
For Mr Uckermann, who belongs to the Right-wing CDU party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Giordano's comments smashed a long-held taboo in Germany. "Gior-dano broke down the wall," he said. "Before if you criticised this monstrous mosque you were a Nazi. But we have a problem with the integration of Muslims. It's a question of language and culture."
At the Islamic Union, every effort is made to address those fears. "We run German language courses," said Ikbal Kilic, a spokesman. "And the design of the mosque features a lot of glass, so people can see in. We want to be open."
But within the exquisitely carved walls of Cologne Cathedral, those promises are not enough.
"We live in a land of religious freedom," said Prelate Johannes Bastgen, the cathedral's dean. "I would be very glad if the same principle existed in Muslim countries."
dis is goin to get good!
the euros will be moving to australia, canada and the u.s.
after the moslems take over europe.
I have been there. It is marvelous.
No, the moslems will be moving to Australia, Canada and the U.S. after thy take over europe.
... Ann Coulter.
“Londonistan”
PRICELESS!!
Work will begin in the autumn on the £15 million mosque, which will include huge glass and stone cupolas and two six-storey minarets. .......
Who is paying for this abomination? Saudis?
..Its a question of language and culture...
That is an understated yes. A couple thousand years of judeo-christian thought, law, and social compact has generally discouraged those thoughts mooselimbs embrace.
Not to mention the rather conventional views of the female role, and individual identity vs the state.
But then muslim armories are appearing like mushrooms after a spring rain here also. The times they are a troubling.
Funny, that almost sounds like a threat ...
ping.
LOL, unfortunately, more true than not.
Unless they try to make the Outback more habitable, Australia would have difficulty taking in a lot more people.
At most, that quote should have 'make them reject Islam.'
the coastal areas are that crowded?
No, no! Don’t protest! Just have a nice pig roast in the Moscheeplatz with all the trimmings to welcome the new neighbors.
Not so much, but they also aren’t that big. Also, Australia’s population is increasing veeeerry slowly (by American standards). This could be due to a low birthrate and ‘strict’ immigration policies, but given Australia is the driest inhabited continent (excluding Antarctica—even if it has scientists year-round, it hardly should count as being inhabited) and their recent drought (off-set by the even more recent storms and flooding) it doesn’t seem that Australia has the capacity to absorb tens of millions of Europeans (which would be the case if Europeans fled en masse instead of fighting against ‘Eurabia.’ Even if hundreds of millions immigrated to the USA and Canada (personally wouldn’t support that—their cultures are related and similar; they aren’t the same), Australia (current population 20-25 million) would probably get a lot of refugees. Personally would guess that Australia has a capacity of at most around 100 million before its ecosystem goes figuratively kersplat, and that’s including desalination plants on the coasts.
Um....the Protestants were Germans. Whose ancestors reached back for thousands of years in the Rhine.
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