Yahoo - AFP, Frederic Happe, 8 June 2014
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(From L)
Pastor Gregor Hohberg, Rabbi Tovia Ben-Chorin and Imam Kadir
Sanci hold three
bricks as they pose for photographers in the vacant lot where
they hope to
build a multifaith prayer building, in Berlin June 3, 2014. (Photo:
John
MacDougall)
|
Christians,
Muslims and Jews, all praying under the same roof -- that's the groundbreaking
project of a pastor, a rabbi and an imam in Berlin.
Still a
sand-strewn vacant construction site, St Peter's Square in the centre of the
German capital will -- God willing -- by 2018 host a building that's so unusual
it doesn't have an official term.
Not a
church, nor a synagogue, or a mosque as such, but a bit of all three, the
centre known currently as a "House of Prayer and Learning" will be
unlike any other religious venue in the world, its initiators say.
The aim of
the 44-million-euro ($60-million) project, whose fundraising kicked off Tuesday
but has been several years in the making, is not only to show the importance of
multi-faith dialogue but to mirror multi-cultural Berlin.
"It
seemed to us that there was a very strong desire for the peaceful coming
together of the religions," said Roland Stolte, one of two Protestant
representatives on the board of the association behind the project.
Not by
coincidence, it will stand at a location with a strong and long religious
significance.
In 2007
archaeological excavations unearthed the foundations of four previous St
Peter's churches that had stood on the site at different periods since the
Middle Ages, Stolte told AFP in an interview.
The last
one, which had a striking 100-metre-tall (328-foot) steeple and dated from the
mid-19th century, was damaged in World War II and later demolished by the
former East German communist state in the early 1960s.
A car park
then occupied the site which the city authorities later handed back to the
local Protestant community.
"We
wanted to revive this place, not by building a church again but by constructing
a place that says something about the life of religions today in Berlin,"
Stolte said.
Nearly 19
percent of Berlin's 3.4 million residents described themselves as Protestant,
according to 2010 official data.
Some 8.1
percent said they were Muslim and 0.9 percent Jewish, while more than 60
percent said they did not adhere to any religion.
'Be
patient'
Pastor
Gregor Hohberg said it had been crucial to also get the centre's Jewish and
Muslim partners involved right from the start, well before work got underway on
building it.
"From
the beginning we wanted it to be an inter-religious project, not a place built
by Christians in which Jews and Muslims would then be added," he said.
Imam Kadir
Sanci, who's of Turkish origin, told AFP that a Catholic-Protestant church in
western Germany had inspired him to dream that such a centre could be possible
.
"When
I was doing my Muslim theology studies in Frankfurt, I had seen in the
neighbouring town of Darmstadt, a Catholic church and a Protestant church under
the same roof," he said.
"I
said to the priest it would be great to one day have a shared place with
Muslims. But the priest told me 'be patient, it took us 600-plus years',"
the imam said.
 |
An
illustration of German architect Wilfried Kuehn's design for the House of
Prayer and Learning project, a multifaith prayer building in Berlin June 3,
2014.
(Photo: John MacDougall)
|
Architect
Wilfried Kuehn, whose design for the new building was chosen in 2011 from
around 200 entries in a competition, said it had posed many challenges that
spanned architecture and theology.
"It
was a challenge to try to combine the differences and the universal aspects. It
was a question of not mixing the religions while ensuring mutual
recognition," he said.
Each of the
three religions will have its own equal-sized prayer space, all on the same
floor, with each leading out to a common room where the congregations will be
able to mix and chat.
Hohberg
said that after much consideration, they had decided against a common prayer
room "because that risked putting off more people than it would have
attracted".
"And
we want also to address the more conservative believers, to show that
inter-religious dialogue is not only possible but important," he said.
However,
financing must still be found, and organisers have sought to keep even that
aspect of the ambitious project firmly at the grassroots level.
A
crowdfunding campaign via the website www.house-of-one.org was launched Tuesday
to raise the 43.5 million euros needed.
Donors are,
among other things, invited to buy a "brick" for 10 euros.
"We
wanted for this project to be base-driven," Stolte said, adding that they
had sought out local partners such as Berlin's Jewish community or the Muslim
group Forum for Inter-Cultural Dialogue rather than involving higher religious
echelons.
For this
reason, an upper limit has been set on individual donations -- at one percent
of the total, or 435,000 euros.
 |
Also in the garden of the Vatican embraced Peres and Abbas together. (NOS/AFP)
|
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religion on the planet survive the new energy?
We have
spoken in the past about the evolution of spiritual systems [religion] on the
planet. We have discussed what to expect, and we have told you to look at how
organized religion will shift. In fact, it's already happening - a very slow
understanding that your systems simply reflect the concept of branches of the
same tree, and they are not opposed to each other but simply different. We
describe it again, for it shows how the collective soul plays a part in
awareness.
The
question has arisen, "Will religion survive?" and the answer is yes.
We told you before that it doesn't matter how Humans find God. It really
doesn't matter! There will be many levels of Human awareness represented by
many ways to worship and grow. Cultures don't need to meld into one group to
become enlightened. It's important that all of the various processes remain, so
that Human Beings just starting out can go through whatever spiritual processes
they wish and have enough time to honor their own timing of learning. The
search for God is unique to each Human Being.
So what
about organized religion? How is it going to change? It's going to start seeing
connectivity, and this is what we teach. When the religions of this planet join
together in dialogue and they eventually realize they are unique, but have much
the same compassionate purpose, they will relax. When they see it's fine to worship
the way they wish, yet at the same time acknowledge the others' right to
worship the way they wish, wisdom will expand. You will see an expansion of
this planet's spiritual awareness, with increased knowledge and understanding
and compassion. But as long as they separate into groups, where each one claims
to be "right" and they don't talk to each other, there can be no
growth. But you knew that, didn't you?
Religion is
not going to diminish or go away. In fact, it's going to get bigger! Look for
better understanding between belief systems. When you see separation and
radicalism, it will look alarming to you - yet it has been there all along. In
the very new energy, it will start showing itself as being lower consciousness
and not of God. Change is everywhere.
Isn't it
interesting that on your planet, there is a full realization of a monotheistic
God? There is one God, a theme expressed by most of the Humans on Earth. Most
of the earth also believes there is an afterlife [something beyond death]. Yet
you segment yourself into thousands of "doctrinal pieces", deciding
who gets to worship the one God in the correct fashion. Those who do not
somehow will be left behind. This attitude is what will change. It's
about connectivity and compassion for another's process. .."
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