Cologne's Religious Conflict: Getting Catholics and Muslims To Cooperate

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Ali Kilinç, 46, a skilled laborer, has come to the Sterbing slaughterhouse with his family; he's ordered three lambs. A devout Muslim originally from Anatolia, he prays five times a day. "The Koran is a kind of travel guide to the true path we should take through life," he says. "A believer should be in touch with his creator -- which is why we pray five times a day, we fast during Ramadan and we visit the sick and our dead." Somehow Christians in Germany lack this sort of devotion, Kilinç maintains, and you can hear a note of sadness in his voice. "You are alone, we are together," he says. For Kilinç this sense of unity is the secret to the success of Islam.

"There is nothing more wonderful than to prostrate yourself before God in the company of other believers. One movement, one thought -- that is faith," says Kilinç, who doesn't understand why the Germans have so little interest in their God. And is it truly possible that the creator rests on the seventh day?, he asks.

"God is never weary," says Kilinç. "What sort of a God is that?" For him, the weariness of the Christian creator is a reflection of the weariness of Christians. Which, he believes, is in stark contrast to the Muslim God who never rests. Perhaps this explains why the number of Muslims in the world is constantly growing, Kilinç suggests.

Christian Strength In "Never Being Competitive"

Of course, the view from the rectory at St. Theodor's Parish in the Höhenberg district of Cologne is a little different. The opinion there: Islam is the faith that needs help and Christianity is the faith that offers assistance. "And our strength is that we are never competitive," says Father Franz Meurer, pastor for the Vingst and Höhenberg neighborhoods. Meurer wears Birkenstock sandals with his priest's collar, and he can quote French philosopher Jacques Derrida, German-Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt, American sociologist Richard Sennett and the German punk rock band Die Ärzte, all in the same sentence.

Father Meurer conducts interreligious ceremonies with local school classes, teaches Turkish youths how to drive a forklift in the church's basement and distributes free food and clothing. Half of the residents in his neighborhood are immigrants or have an immigrant background and plenty have come to Father Meurer for help.

Meurer has produced nativity plays starring only Muslim students and he once sent a samba band to perform at a music festival in the Turkish city of Izmir. "And what did they bring back? Two liters of holy water from Ephesus (editor's note: water from the house in Ephesus where the Virgin Mary is said to have last resided)," he says triumphantly. "Our Catholic kids wouldn't even have thought of doing that."

The Faithful Racing To Do Good Deeds

The pastor removed a sign erected in front of his church by Pro Cologne, a group that opposes the mosque project, himself. He was slapped with a €600 ($880) fine for doing so. "Ecumenism (or unity) strengthens religion," he notes. And that is one reason that he is not concerned about the end of Catholicism in the city. "Once upon a time, one in three people here were monks or nuns. That was too much for the rest of the city -- that's why they cheered Napoleon when he marched into the city. And that's just how things go -- sometimes up, sometimes down."

It is this sort of outlook that prompted the pastor to start donating his Sunday collections to the mosque project two years ago. The archdiocese reprimanded him, noting that there were plenty of impoverished Catholic congregations that could use the cash. Then, when the Muslim writer Navid Kermani received his quarter of the Hessian Culture Award worth around €10,000 (around $14,300) at the end of November, he donated the money to Father Meurer's congregation.

In his acceptance speech, Kermani quoted from the Koran. " If Allah had willed, He would have made you one nation," Kermanis said. "But that He may (test) you in what has come to you. So strive in a race in good deeds."

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• Part 1: Getting Catholics and Muslims To Cooperate
• Part 2: Christian Values Help Muslims to be Better Muslims
• Part 3: One Muslim's Opinion: "You Are Alone, We Are Together"