c. 2007 Religion News Service
First Mosque Rises in Former East Germany
BERLIN (RNS) To protesters’ jeers, a Muslim congregation broke ground Tuesday (Jan. 2) for the first mosque in the former East Germany.
Located in the Pankow district of East Berlin, the mosque is expected to be completed by the end of 2007. But its fate has never been guaranteed.
Citizens groups spent the better part of last year trying to block approval for the building’s construction, including two attempts at referendums and a vigil Dec. 27. Nonetheless, on Dec. 22 the Pankow council approved the start of construction.
According to the Berliner Morgenpost (Berlin Morning Post), about 50 demonstrators showed up at the groundbreaking ceremony. Police called the mood “peaceful, but laden with emotions.” A small scuffle broke out when three people held up protest signs.
Supporters of the mosque argue that many of the protesters do not even live nearby and won’t be affected by it, but oppose it because they are against further integration of Muslim groups into German culture.
The mosque is being constructed by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Members of its Berlin community have been meeting in private residences for 18 years. The new mosque, which is being built on the site of an abandoned sauerkraut factory, will include a 40-foot-tall minaret.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community claims 200 adherents in Berlin and 30,000 across Germany. There are already about 80 mosques in Berlin for other Muslim denominations.
_ Niels Sorrells
Poll: One in Four Say Jesus’ Return at Least Somewhat Likely in 2007
(RNS) Twenty-five percent of Americans believe it is at least somewhat likely that Jesus Christ will return to Earth in 2007, a new poll from the Associated Press and AOL News shows.
The poll, conducted by the international polling firm Ipsos, looked at the public’s predictions about what will occur in 2007.
Pollsters found that 11 percent of those surveyed said it is “very likely” that Jesus will return to Earth this year. An additional 14 percent said it was “somewhat likely.”
Twenty-five percent of those polled said it was “not too likely,” compared to 42 percent who said it was “not at all likely.” Eight percent said they did not know or were not sure.
While a quarter of Americans polled said that it is at least somewhat likely that Jesus will return to Earth this year, views about the topic varied depending on religious persuasion, the AP reported.
For example, 46 percent of white evangelical Christians believe it’s at least somewhat likely that Jesus will return this year, while 17 percent of Catholics and 10 percent of those with no religion feel the same way.
The poll, conducted Dec. 12-14, was based on telephone interviews with 1,000 adults from all states except Hawaii and Alaska.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Two Prominent Evangelical Leaders Hospitalized
(RNS) Two prominent evangelical leaders _ the Rev. D. James Kennedy of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr. of Louisville, Ky. _ were hospitalized shortly after Christmas with unexpected health problems.
Kennedy, the senior minister of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, suffered cardiac arrest at his home Dec. 28. He remains in a local hospital.
“He got good medical care immediately and has been showing signs of improvement,” John Aman, a spokesman for Coral Ridge Ministries, said Tuesday (Jan. 2).
Aman said Kennedy, 76, spoke from his pulpit on Christmas Eve before starting his normal two-week Christmas vacation.
Brian E. Fisher, executive vice president of Coral Ridge Ministries, said in a statement Monday that Kennedy was “off life support, sitting up and speaking with family.”
Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was admitted to a local hospital Dec. 27 after experiencing abdominal pain. In a three-hour procedure the following day, surgeons removed scar tissue from a 1980s operation.
Lawrence Smith, a seminary spokesman, said Mohler is expected to be released from the hospital during the first week of January. Mohler, 47, has been president of the seminary since 1993.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Former Jerusalem Mayor Theodor Kollek Dies at 95
JERUSALEM (RNS) Theodor (Teddy) Kollek, who worked tirelessly to foster co-existence during his 28-year stint as mayor of Jerusalem, died Tuesday (Jan. 2) at the age of 95.
When he was elected mayor in 1965, Kollek served at the helm of half a city: predominantly Jewish West Jerusalem was in Israeli hands, but Arab East Jerusalem was under Jordanian rule _ and off-limits to Jews _ until Israel captured the eastern part of the city during the 1967 war.
Once Jerusalem was physically united, Kollek strove to create peace among the Jewish, Muslim and Christian residents of city. He also fostered co-existence between religious and less-religious Jews, whose interests often conflicted.
“Jerusalem’s people of differing faiths, cultures and aspirations must find peaceful ways to live together other than by drawing a line in the sand,” Kollek said during his tenure.
Although Kollek’s goal of maintaining a unified city went against Arab aspirations of creating a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, his success in transforming the city from a poverty-stricken, provincial municipality into a modern city worthy of its illustrious past won him grudging respect from many Arab residents.
Named after Theodor Herzl, the father of the Zionist movement, Kollek was born in Nagyvaszony, near Budapest, and grew up in Vienna. In 1935, as the Nazis were moving toward Austria, the Kollek family emigrated to Palestine, which was then under control of the British Mandatory government.
Once there, Kollek founded a well-known kibbutz and became an adviser to David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister.
Ruth Cheshin, president of the Jerusalem Foundation, a fundraising giant founded by Kollek 40 years ago, said Tuesday that Kollek was “a unique and special man who saw all residents of the city, Christian, Jew and Muslim, as equal partners and wanted to make the city into a beacon of hope for all its residents.”
In a statement, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who beat Kollek during the last of Kollek’s seven runs for the mayorship, said his former opponent “decisively influenced the city’s way of life, culture, vistas, institutions as well as the relationship of its residents. His name will always be an inseparable part of Jerusalem’s glory.”
_ Michele Chabin
Quote of the Day: Presbyterian Church (USA) Moderator Joan Gray
(RNS) “It’s not a definite time for sowing, for pruning, for reaping the fruit. It’s an out-of-season time. A time of uncertainty.”
_ The Rev. Joan S. Gray, moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly, reflecting on her church, which is divided over the ordination of gay clergy. Gray was quoted by Presbyterian News Service.
KRE/PH END RNS
