For years the Swedish church parish in Nacka has with an ongoing project planned to build a mosque adjacent to the existing church in Fisksätra in Stockholm.
The project to build the joint building, called "House of God" is estimated to cost SEK 39 million ($4,548,630), an amount the church tries to collect through a foundation.
Critics have naturally questioned whether the church really should be building mosques, or instead focus on the Christian faith.
Plans to build the "House of God" in Fisksätra, Nacka municipality in southern Stockholm, began already in 2009. Fisksätra is an ethnic community with a large Muslim populations. The following year, priest and former bishop of Karlstad, Bengt Wadensjö, presented the project in an article in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. He referred to the Sweden Democrats:
- When fear of the unknown in the form of Islam now gives Sweden a profile in the news by SD taking place in parliament, I want to highlight a different picture of Sweden. Jimmie Åkesson (head of SD) wrote in Aftonbladet, October 20, 2009, that "Muslims are our biggest foreign threat". In Nacka we do not believe that immigrants or Muslims would be a threat. They are an asset."
Bengt Wadensjö said that Muslims and Christians should unite in the idea that God is one, and added that "Muslims are generally peaceful and honest", and that the project would lead to that "world peace begins in Fisksätra".
Concretely, the idea is that the mosque will be built next to the church and the two united by a glazed foyer. The Muslim community have been allowed to buy the land needed for SEK 300,000, an amount that will not be paid until the project is complete.
In November 2014, Nacka Parish decided to transfer bequeathed funds to the collection fund to build the mosque, ie money from deceased who wanted to support the Swedish Church by donating money. Although this decision was appealed, the protest was rejected.
The project to build the joint building, called "House of God" is estimated to cost SEK 39 million ($4,548,630), an amount the church tries to collect through a foundation.
Critics have naturally questioned whether the church really should be building mosques, or instead focus on the Christian faith.
Plans to build the "House of God" in Fisksätra, Nacka municipality in southern Stockholm, began already in 2009. Fisksätra is an ethnic community with a large Muslim populations. The following year, priest and former bishop of Karlstad, Bengt Wadensjö, presented the project in an article in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. He referred to the Sweden Democrats:
- When fear of the unknown in the form of Islam now gives Sweden a profile in the news by SD taking place in parliament, I want to highlight a different picture of Sweden. Jimmie Åkesson (head of SD) wrote in Aftonbladet, October 20, 2009, that "Muslims are our biggest foreign threat". In Nacka we do not believe that immigrants or Muslims would be a threat. They are an asset."Bengt Wadensjö said that Muslims and Christians should unite in the idea that God is one, and added that "Muslims are generally peaceful and honest", and that the project would lead to that "world peace begins in Fisksätra".
Concretely, the idea is that the mosque will be built next to the church and the two united by a glazed foyer. The Muslim community have been allowed to buy the land needed for SEK 300,000, an amount that will not be paid until the project is complete.
In November 2014, Nacka Parish decided to transfer bequeathed funds to the collection fund to build the mosque, ie money from deceased who wanted to support the Swedish Church by donating money. Although this decision was appealed, the protest was rejected.
