ÈÓã Çááå ÇáÑÍãä ÇáÑÍíã Roger Boyes, Berlin Tues May 02, 2006 Source MILITANTS acting in the name of Islam, Christianity and Judaism are at loggerheads across the world . But in Berlin, at least, the great religions hope to settle their differences on the soccer field.With just over a month to go before the World Cup, a team of imams is preparing to play a team of Christian priests."It's been difficult to find a rabbi who will referee on the Sabbath," sighed the Reverend Christopher Jage-Bowler, "but we are trusting in God." The Muslim side will not play on Friday instead of Saturday, because this is their day of prayer. The Christian clergy, meanwhile, have a problem with Sunday. But the 44-year-old vicar, planner of the seven-a-side match, is confident that the problems will be resolved before kick-off. The aim is to link the game with a British government-sponsored workshop on racism in soccer. Leading black players will gather in the British embassy to discuss how to involve more Muslims. Anyone hoping for a thumping victory for Christianity on Saturday should take note of a similar experiment held in Leicester, where imams and Christian clergy played a game to raise money for charity. The imams had a clear lead at half-time and lent several Koran scholars to the Christian side to prevent a humiliating defeat for the vicars. In the end, Islam thrashed Christianity 6-0 The game is being staged at a highly sensitive moment in Christian-Muslim relations in Germany. The cartoonist of the newspaper Tagesspiegel had to go into hiding after he depicted the Iranian national team as potential suicide bombers. Father Jage-Bowler was struck by how few points of spontaneous contact there were between the Muslim and Christian communities in Berlin. Since the World Cup is being marketed in Germany as a cultural melting pot, the vicar thought a soccer game would break down barriers. This inspired him to contact Imam Harun Bulat, of the Sehitlik Mosque, which has a large Turkish congregation. "I'm hoping it will become a regular event," the vicar said. "It is, after all, a beautiful game." The Times I am so sO SO happy ^^ (= *Peace and love* =) Yours Sincerely, Cat Stevens Cat Stevens' latest threads My sig Note: Silly , repeated, Irrelevant, and the like, responses, posts, comments will be ignored (it depends on my mood and time if I won't ignore them), taking off the topic is losers' style, if I'm not replying to your relevant post maybe because of this , ask yourself: will you write such response if the writer wasn't a Muslim!
Hi dear Liroy^^ Super Great , can't wait to watch the match^^I'm so excited(= *Peace and love* =)Yours Sincerely,Cat StevensNote: Silly , repeated, Irrelevant, and the like, responses, posts, comments will be ignored (it depends on my mood and time if I won't ignore them), taking off the topic is losers' style, if I'm not replying to your relevant post maybe because of this , ask yourself: will you write such response if the writer wasn't a Muslim!
Hi Anaconda man =)How are ya doing man!? I hope you're fine, full of energy and faith, Amen join them dude =) it will be COOL, seriously =)Oh, it is only for priests I guess (= *Peace and love* =)Yours Sincerely,Cat StevensNote: Silly , repeated, Irrelevant, and the like, responses, posts, comments will be ignored (it depends on my mood and time if I won't ignore them), taking off the topic is losers' style, if I'm not replying to your relevant post maybe because of this , ask yourself: will you write such response if the writer wasn't a Muslim!
Source (= *Peace and love* =)Yours Sincerely,Cat StevensNote: Silly , repeated, Irrelevant, and the like, responses, posts, comments will be ignored (it depends on my mood and time if I won't ignore them), taking off the topic is losers' style, if I'm not replying to your relevant post maybe because of this , ask yourself: will you write such response if the writer wasn't a Muslim!
