World's first lesbian Bishop, Eva Brunne of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, have issued a call for the removal of crosses and other Christian symbols at the Seamen’s Church in Freeport so that visiting foreign sailors practicing other religions like Islam “would not be offended.”
The strange call, according to the Stockholm-based news outlet SVT.se, was made by Brunne, not only intends to remove the Christian symbols but also set up a prayer room inside the church that would cater to people of other religions, particularly Muslim visitors. She explained that by doing so, Muslim refugees entering Sweden will be more at ease.
The church targeted is the Seamen’s mission church in Stockholm’s eastern dockyards. The Bishop held a meeting there and challenged the priest to explain what he’d do if a ship’s crew came into port who weren’t Christian, but wanted to pray.
Going further, she went to her blog, where she called Muslims "angels", and then explained that removing Christian symbols from the church and preparing the building for Muslim prayer doesn’t make a priest any less a defender of the faith. Rather, to do anything less would make one “Stingy towards people of other faiths.”
The bishop insisted this wasn’t an issue, after all airports and hospitals already had multi-faith prayer rooms, and converting the dockyard church would only bring it up to speed.
“Making a room available for people of other faiths does not mean that we are not defenders of our own faith. Priests are called to proclaim Christ. We do that every day and in every meeting with people,” Brunne reportedly said.
“But that does not mean that we are stingy toward people of other faiths.”