A Muslim worship service being held at the National Cathedral was interrupted by a Christian protester offended by the Christian church being used for worship by those who deny the divinity of Christ.
“Jesus Christ died on that cross over there!” Christine Weick yelled after the announcements at the start of the service. “He is the reason why we are to worship only him. Jesus Christ is our lord and savior!”
Weick continued to yell her objections as she was being removed from the church.
“We have built, and allowed you here in mosques across this country. Why can’t you worship in your mosque, and leave our churches alone?”
The National Cathedral’s website said “Leaders believe offering Muslim prayers at the Christian cathedral shows more than hospitality. It demonstrates an appreciation of one another’s prayer traditions and is a powerful symbolic gesture toward a deeper relationship between the two Abrahamic traditions.”
One of the Cathedral’s officials has previously said she believes Muslims and Christians worship the same God.
An Islamic worship service is scheduled at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. for the first time in American history.
The national cathedral has been historically an Episcopalian site. Interfaith events have been hosted at the cathedral but there has never been an event where Christians are not part of the event until now.
“Leaders believe offering Muslim prayers at the Christian cathedral shows more than hospitality,” representatives for the National Cathedral wrote in a press release about the matter. “It demonstrates an appreciation of one another’s prayer traditions and is a powerful symbolic gesture toward a deeper relationship between the two Abrahamic traditions.”
“This is a dramatic moment in the world and in Muslim-Christian relations,” added South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool. “This needs to be a world in which all are free to believe and practice and in which we avoid bigotry, Islamaphobia, racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Christianity and to embrace our humanity and to embrace faith.”
Leaders at the national cathedral have been criticized over the last few years as moving away from Christian teachings and working to oppose teachings of the Bible.