http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2762
By News Team ⋅
It is claimed in the news that the Bishop of Oxford has supported plans to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer over part of the historic city. This has left some residents feeling “physically sick”, reports our correspondent.
The Rt. Rev John Pritchard is said to have welcomed proposals from Oxford’s Central Mosque to sound the call three times a day over East Oxford. Indeed – if media reports are accurate – he has also said that those opposed to the plan should “relax” and “enjoy community diversity”!
Furthermore, the bishop is also reported as rejecting the http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2866, that sounding the call in Britain represented an attempt to “impose an Islamic character” on some areas.Visitors to this site will remember how we recently reported on the Bishop of Rochester’s comments that some parts of the country were now too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter. Clearly Bishop Pritchard doesn’t believe this and has reportedly said: “I want to distance myself from what the Bishop of Rochester has said. There are no no-go areas in this country that we are aware of and in all parts of the country there are good interfaith relationships developing.”
Our correspondent respectfully suggests to the Bishop of Oxford that a lone late night stroll through Tower Hamlet’s Clichy Estate could afford him an opportunity to put his theory to the test!
Meanwhile, dozens of East Oxford residents have urged the council to reject the plan by Oxford mosque leaders to issue the two-minute call to prayer up to three times a day. They, quite rightly in our correspondent’s opinion, fear that it will turn the area into a “Muslim ghetto”.
Bishop Pritchard is clearly at odds with many residents and claims: “I believe we have good relationships with the Muslim community here in Oxford and I am personally very happy for the mosque to call the faithful to prayer in East Oxford.”
The final word goes to our correspondent who is under no doubt that Oxford’s Labour/Lib-Dem dominated council will capitulate to the request, he adds: “having been granted it will only be a matter of time before both the number of calls to prayer a day increases – as will the volume of the broadcast calls themselves”!
http://www.bnp.org.uk/2008/01/12/oxford-bishop-supports-muslim-call-to-prayer-claim/