Jews and Christians are guests as taboo-breaking liberal mosque opens in Berlin

[Mosby]

BERLIN (AFP) — With a mission to spread a liberal form of Islam, a mosque where men and women pray side by side has opened its doors in Berlin, complete with female imams.

The Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar” (‘God is greatest’) resonated through the crowded Ibn-Rushd-Goethe-Mosque Friday as US-Malaysian Ani Zonneveld, one of the world’s few female imams, launched the call to prayer.

Then one of the founders of the new place of worship, lawyer and women’s rights activist Seyran Ates, opened the event with words of welcome before Christian and Jewish guests and a large media contingent.

“We want to send a signal against Islamic terror and the misuse of our religion,” said Turkish-born Ates, 54, dressed in a long white robe. “We want to practise our religion together.”

Ates — no stranger to breaking taboos, having called for a “sexual revolution” in the Muslim world — vowed she would not allow ultra-conservatives “to rob me of my right to be Muslim”.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/jews-and-christians-are-guests-as-taboo-breaking-liberal-mosque-opens-in-berlin/

[Lordquinton]

1. Good step forward

Were Atheists invited?

[guillaumeb]

2. Were they prohibited from attending?

[Mosby]

3. Why would they be?

[Lordquinton]

4. Why wouldn't they?

Is this for unity or faith?

While religions are constantly at each other's throats, they are unified against the nones. When those outreaches start happening, then progress is being made.