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June 15, 2007

UK: Cathedral's Muslim Oratorio Inspires Protests

Westminster Cathedral is the seat of the Catholic Church in England. On September 17 2006, just five days after Pope Benedict XVI's Regensburg Speech it was a scene of protest. About a 100 Islamists, led by Anjem Chaudhury, head of Ahl Us Sunna Wal Jammah, a successor group to the terror-supporting Al Muhajiroun organization, made the protest. Worshippers were harassed by the angry Muslims, who carried placards saying "Curse the Pope", "Pope Benedict go to Hell," "Pope Benedict you will pay, the Mujahideen are coming your way," "Jesus Loves the Muslims," "Islam Will Conquer Rome," "Trinity of Evil: Western Crusade Against Islam."

Outside the cathedral Choudary, who had led the infamous cartoon protest of February 3 2006, openly stated to all who would listen that anyone who insulted the so-called prophet of Islam should be "subject to capital punishment". Choudary said then: "The Muslims take their religion very seriously and non-Muslims must appreciate that and that must also understand that there may be serious consequences if you insult Islam and the prophet. Whoever insults the message of Mohammed is going to be subject to capital punishment."

Chaudary and his followers did not receive any punishment for threatening death to critics of Islam or "glorifying terrorism", nor for causing a public nuisance, nor for "Behavior likely to cause breach of the peace", legal measures which could have been employed against him.

Now, Westminster Cathedral is set to become embroiled in another controversy. Britain's heir to the throne, Prince Charles has made much of his love of Islam. He commissioned the composer Sir John Taverner to create a musical "work" in which the 99 names of Allah are set to music. That of itself is not surprising, given the track record of appeasement so far shown by the less-than-intelligent Prince of Wales.

What is surprising is that such a work, eulogizing a religion whose sacred book contains passages calling for the death of unbelievers, should have its inaugural performance within the hallowed space of Westminster Cathedral - a Catholic house of worship. The deity of Christianity is the threefold personage of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, a figure whose words are about peace and love, not about smiting the heads or fingers off unbelievers.

Last month, Private Eye published the following:

I kept the clipping, expecting the issue to either go away by being cancelled, or to make headlines with the outrage of having such a blasphemy against the basic tenets of Christianity taking place in a cathedral. The media remained fairly silent on the event.

Now, according to the Telegraph, the premiere of Taverner's hagiographic treatment of the deity in whose name terrorists kill and maim is arousing some voices of dissent.

The work will have its debut next week on June 19, and so far several traditionalist Roman Catholics have written to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor to complain that such a work performed in a church appears to endorse the Islamic notion of God. Their letters of complaint failed to halt the performance, so now a demonstration is planned to coincide with the premiere of Taverner's PC work, which is cloyingly entitled "The Beautiful Names".

Mgr Mark Langham, the administrator of the cathedral, said that the event was a musical performance and not a "liturgical act of worship".

There is a sort of precedent for non-Christian work to be performed in a Cathedral. Marianne Faithfull performed most of her famous songs, including one (Why D'Ya Do It from her album "Broken English") which included the lyrics "every time I see your dick I see her cunt in my bed" (and more of the same vein) at St Anne's Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York, on November 25 and 26, 1989.

Dozens of traditionalist protesters are planning to carry placards and banners outside Westminster Cathedral on June 19, to picket the event and to urge people not to attend.

UPDATE: The Independent has more on the raison d'etre of this piece. 63-year old John Taverner claims the work, which will be subject to a simultaneous broadcast on BBC Radio Three, will increase inter-faith dialogue and understanding. He says: "Perhaps, by doing this in the language of music, one may contribute to an inward healing of the strife that permeates the modern world."

"This is the most important work that I have ever written. It is a kind of 'summation' of all that I have tried to do over the past 60 years. If the work contributes towards healing a shattered world, then this is of great importance."

Errrmmm, yes. Of course. I am sure the members of Hamas who used force yesterday to impose their Islamist principles upon the Palestinians of the Gaza strip would become more peaceful if they heard Taverner's paean to Islam.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 15, 2007 6:42 AM

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