OLD CATHOLIC CHURCHES IN ENGLAND, EUROPE AND AMERICA HAVE BECOME THE UNLIKELY SYMBOLS OF THE FAILED CRUSADES AGAINST ISLAM.

…IRONICALLY MANY HAVE BEEN TURNED INTO MASJID AND ALSO HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, DISCOTHEQUES AND EVEN SIKH GUDWARAS AND HOW MALAYSIA PROTECTS THE ONLY JEWISH CEMETERY IN PULAU PINANG.

By Mansor Puteh

Only the Christian cemeteries in these countries seem to be growing in size…because being buried in such cemeteries have become a tradition for them than a part of their religious beliefs or practice.

I have not seen any Chinese or Hindu temple turned into masjid. This cannot happen and will not happen.

And no masjid can and will be turned into Chinese or Hindu temples or Synagogues.

Yet, many old Melayu villages or kampong have been displaced but with masjid still standing.

It is a pathetic sight; something that the local Muslim authorities ought to have the answers for.
They won’t have any; they do not have any guilt feeling.  

Some of the old churches in the west and America had been sold off to private buyers who turned them into masjid, with the others turned into hotels, restaurants and also Sikh gudwaras.

If these did not happen, then surely the old churches would be left to decay, which is a worse reflection of the times, of the influence of the Crusaders who had tried very hard to plant the Cross wherever they were, before they were stopped by Sallehuddin Al-Ayubi or Saladin.

Many old Catholic churches which had tall spires had become irrelevant to the surrounding areas whose parish they used to serve.

The few that are left are almost vacant, with them giving some din during Sunday mass which are mostly attended by the aged and elderly and also disabled men and women who could only fill the first and second rows in the churches, and listening to the priests or pastors giving their sermons.

The places where these churches stand are definitely at the wrong places with most of them sitting deep in the woods.

Fortunately, and also ironically, these are the churches which still remain standing as they do not attract potential buyers.

Those that are in the towns and cities and in residential areas have all been sold off. Even the few that are still holding on are quiet and still.

The churches had to be sold off because they were sitting in areas which are now dominated by the non-Catholics, who are mostly the immigrants to those countries who had taken over not only the roads or streets but much of the cities or towns.

I first learnt of how an old church that had been sold off to be turned into a discotheque in 1979 when I was in New York City, studying and living there for a while.

That was probably the first time such a place of worship for the Catholics in the area or eve country had been sold.

Of course there was some debate on the matter, with one side not agreeing to it being sold, much less to be converted into a discotheque.

However, the other side which agreed with the move, said ‘buildings has no memory’.

The church was sold off and it became a discotheque.

And not long later, one church to the next one was sold off. There was no need for them to be there as they do not serve any community since they had all left the church to become atheists or non-practicing Catholics or Christians.

Even the leaders of the churches themselves do not seem to care anymore to give speeches or sermons before such a small or tiny congregation, with one having only fifty persons, yet, he seems to be the most vocal in attacking Islam and wanting to burn copies of the Holy Koran.

Yet, the Muslims did not retaliate to call for the burning of The Bible or even the Torah or Talmud, however much they despite those few Catholics or Christians who they brand as Pseudo-Christians and Pseudo-Catholics, who do not represent these religions.

No wonder they are also not supported by the Vatican whose Pope surprisingly did not personally condemn the action or distanced himself from them. 

In Pulau Pinang in Malaysia, an old Jewish synagogue has been turned into a photo store. It was the only synagogue on the island which was built when there was a significant Jewish community there.

However, their Jewish cemetery is still where it is with no threat of it being razed down to make way for development.

Most of the Jews on the island, however, had fled to go to other countries.

In the Zionist state, masjid and Muslim cemeteries and communities have been razed to make way for the development of housing projects and towns for new immigrants from the former Soviet Union and East Europe.

The most startling conversion of an old church has got to be the church in Constantinople, which happened when the city and country fell to the Muslim forces led by Sultan Memet, so the city was later, renamed Istanbul.

The Haier Sofia Masjid is now a museum. It turned into one when Turkey became a ‘secular state’ but with it still retaining its features including the minarets or towers that were constructed to add to the original Christian design of the church.

Islamic calligraphy was also added inside and outside the building, but some of the Catholic icons are still on the walls.

However, only the Christian cemeteries seem to have expanded.

The reason being anyone who was said to be Christian despite him or not practicing the religion including the atheists in England, Europe and America, would ultimately find themselves being buried in such cemeteries.

So what happens is that they were born Christians i.e. to couples who were Christians, yet, the whole life they did not spend as Christians. But when they die they are given Christian burials, which is mostly a tradition for the burying of the dead in America amongst them.

Unless if they opted to be cremated with their ashes strewn on the sea or river or be used as ornaments, or put in pots and placed in the fancy crematoriums.