There is a clear pattern in the spiritual low points of ancient Israel’s history in which they mix the worship of Yahweh with foreign gods in the spaces that were consecrated for exclusive worship.
For example, King Ahaz writes from Syria that he “saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. So Uriah the priest built an altar (in the temple courts) in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned” 2 Kings 16:10b-11. The same type of compromising actions were displayed by Ahab and later Manasseh. Prayers to other gods were offered alongside Israel’s God. The Bible couldn’t be stronger it’s it condemnation of these actions, eventually resulting in the exile.
Showing hospitality looks like kindly inviting people into the vehicle for a ride and extending friendship. Handing over the keys of leadership to have a visitor behind the wheel to drive it wherever they want isn’t hospitality, it is an abdication of a sacred trust that has been given by God and 900 years of faithful witness. If Muslims are looking for a place to eat, worship and say their prayers, they should certainly be able to do that. But before it is in our cathedrals, they need to be deconsecrated, and their doors closed to Christian worship, and tears shed for having lost such a rich legacy.
I'm a bit late in commenting, but two thoughts come to mind:
First: Could the reverse be true? Would Muslims allow Christians into their mosques and allow us to (for example) proclaim the Apostles' Creed or sing the Doxology? I find this doubtful, and frankly, I would not be comfortable doing so, even though I know that every square inch of this entire world belongs to the Lord Jesus.
Secondly, I believe having a group declare "there is no god but Allah" in a space set aside (consecrated) for the Lord God to be akin to blasphemy. How could it not be so? It is the very definition of it. I think there are other ways of showing hospitality to our neighbors, and building community, but allowing them into the very Holy Place/Sanctuary and share their meal, where we ourselves share our meal with our Lord each week??? Does no one see what is happening???
Would Muslims allow Christians into their mosques and allow us to (for example) proclaim the Apostles' Creed or sing the Doxology?
They would not. Some Christians see their hospitality as able to welcome this disparity. Others do not. Again it reveals what place and spaces and worship mean for people. Thanks for reading and your comment.
As someone who has only ever been met with kindness from Muslims I have worked alongside. I have no issue with offering hospitality to our lovely Muslim brothers and sisters with a meal, (in fact I have been in attendance at many an EID celebration meal). But I would draw the line with the Islamic prayers in our Holy places, I think the Muslims I have known would respect and agree with this line. I see one comment from a COO of a Cathedral has addressed that prayer space was found outside of the Cathedral. I think this is a good compromise.
Something else, not quite the same, but I think of interest, I add this; I was a prison Chaplain and one Sunday, a Satanist (unknown to me) came and disrupted our Holy Communion service. Once I discovered his registration I did withdraw hospitality to our Holy Communion from him, until he changed his religious registration. He stubbornly did not change it. My Christian brothers on the same wing reached out to him with hospitality. I also did allow him to join in “fun” events that took place in our Chapel. He wasn't bad, just young and misguided. Then one such day I saw him humbly praying at the altar. So I'm of the opinion its all about boundaries and balance. We should not sell our souls to popularity but remain open, kind and welcoming but with strong boundaries on the prayer and worship thereby maintaining the precious nature of our Christian faith and presence.
Well said, "its all about boundaries and balance. We should not sell our souls to popularity but remain open, kind and welcoming but with strong boundaries on the prayer and worship thereby maintaining the precious nature of our Christian faith and presence."
If the above scripture is indeed true, then what “principalities of darkness” does a false religion to a pagan god bring into these holy places? It’s far from harmless or hospitable.
Very thoughtful article - thank you. There is an important question to be asked about the purpose and mission of Cathedrals in our post Christendom culture. However it’s worth noting for accuracy that there hasn’t been a grand Iftar in Bristol Cathedral this year. (There was on 2024 and 2025).
Thanks, Ben. I have notes in the article that say: 1)
Online tickets for 2026 at Bristol appeared on Eventbrite, but not on the Cathedral’s website. Iftars have definitely taken place in the previous two years.
2)
St Paul’s hosted an Ifta in previous years. Other cathedrals in the last few years doing the same include Manchester Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, Bradford Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral, and Blackburn Cathedral.
Hi Jason. You might have been looking at an Iftar at the Cathedral School next door - which regularly hosts one. But no Iftar in the Cathedral in 2026. As you say we (I’m the COO at the Cathedral) proudly hosted Iftars in 2024 and 2025 - with people of all faiths represented - as a multi faith meal to counteract some of the divisions in our community that we feel very keenly at the moment. Both were undertaken with much consultation and prayer before committing to them - with the Adhan being the focus of much of that discussion. In both cases the Adahn was not said in the Cathedral - but space was made outside of the building for that and for prayers. I say this not in defence, but to counteract the narrative that can come from articles like this that Cathedrals are in some way losing their focus on faith in Jesus Christ. We are absolutely motivated by following Him - and finding ways to connect with our whole community (as a building that also holds civic responsibilities). Other than this one point of inaccuracy - I really enjoyed your article, in fact I forwarded to our team to reflect on. If you ever want to come and see some of the complexities involved in our day to day life as a diocesan centre of prayer, worship and mission - as well as a civic space, heritage asset (liability!) and venue desperately trying to make ends meet, do get in touch and come and have a cuppa. You would be very welcome. (You’ll find my contacts by googling - probably!).
Hi Ben, thanks for taking the time to read and for clarifying the dates and locations of the Iftars. Thank you for your thoughtful and generous reply and for the clarification regarding the Adhan.
Reading your response, what struck me was how clearly it expresses the motivations that often underpin decisions like this: the desire to be welcoming, to counter division in the community, to recognise the cathedral's civic responsibilities, and to navigate the very real financial pressures that cathedral institutions face today.
Those instincts are entirely understandable and, in many ways, admirable.
My reflection was really trying to step back from the specifics of Bristol Cathedral itself and explore a wider theological question that events like this tend to raise within the Church: how we understand consecrated space, and how that understanding sits alongside the many pastoral, civic, and practical responsibilities that cathedrals now carry.
In that sense, the realities you describe — consultation, prayerful discussion, civic responsibility, and the practical need to sustain the life of the cathedral — actually illustrate the very tensions I was trying to name. Or hope I did!
I’m grateful that you engaged with the article in such a generous spirit and even shared it with your team for reflection.
And thank you as well for the kind invitation. I would very much enjoy taking you up on that offer of a cuppa sometime and hearing more about the day-to-day realities of cathedral life from your side.
These are now mere husks and dead monuments to true Gospel faith in the Church of England in times gone by. The passion, humility and a life of diligent service for the Kingdom demonstrated by dear Anglican ministers like William Grimshaw are at an end! There are but 12 or so God honouring bishops left and the rest might as well work for Oxfam! Lock the doors and sell the obelisks to English Heritage. May God have mercy on this faithless, apathetic country whose Church is failing to honour the Great Commission to give the people hope in forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ! Ezekiel 37: 4-6 "Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”"
Love this article … as I read this I am lead to 1 Corinthians 6:19–20
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples (cathedrals???) of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.”
I am led to repentance as to the realisation of what I have allowed through the doors of my temple …. Through my eyes / my thoughts / my actions … thank you Jesus for the Cross! I’m thinking out loud … this then leads me to ask the question about my own hospitality to myself
Wow this is really shocking to me- probably some of it from having spent the majority of my Christian life in an Anglican setting where I very much feel the building and land has been consecrated. I was on the PCC and we were requested to place something in the car park that was contrary to God’s teaching. We did not give permission and faced some hostility due to the local power of the individuals who had made this request. Maybe not quite the same but to me comes down to showing honour and integrity to God. It is one thing to provide a space for people to meet to eat and another altogether to worship a God who is not ours .
Interesting perspective and thoughts. I genuinely can argue for both sides on this one. On one hand, hospitality is a good thing--a sacred duty even. On the other hand, the idea of sacred, thin-spaces is legitimate. This goes with the question of whether the Vatican should have a place for Muslims to pray as well. On one hand, it might give true believers a place to worship God without separating themselves from their families. On the other hand, it is a place of worshiping the Triune God. But if God dwells in mankind, not in the structure of a temple anymore then does the structure matter? Thanks for bringing this question up. If I was leading it, I might offer a meal, after the prayers. A space of welcome, but not necessarily a space of Islamic prayer. This reminds me of a mosque/catherdral/temple in Cordoba, Spain. Have you seen it? It is an amazing place to visit that challenges our perspectives... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque%E2%80%93Cathedral_of_C%C3%B3rdoba
My intention with my reply is to pose a question with regard to Muslims worshipping in the same place re the Vatican. What came straight to my mind- from watching The Chosen series 4 again this week and in the Bible is that Jesus makes it quite clear that following him will divide families and ultimately we give God the higher honour even with the commandment to honour our parents and all will go well with you. We welcome individuals, that does not mean we need to compromise the truth to appear ‘all inclusive, a comment that was made at a service I listened to today which made me shudder in my shoes
My own instinct is similar to what you described. Hospitality, meals, friendship, dialogue—absolutely. Those are deeply Christian acts. But using a consecrated cathedral for the formal prayer of another religion feels like crossing a theological boundary about what that space is for.
And yes, the Córdoba mosque–cathedral is fascinating precisely because it embodies centuries of religious change layered into one building. But it also reminds us how complicated those histories can be.
So I suspect the real challenge is this: how do we practise genuine Christian hospitality while still honouring the meaning of spaces dedicated to the worship of the Triune God?
The story of Córdoba shares an important lesson for us. The Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba is not simply a beautiful building; it is a place where the meaning of sacred space has changed with history. Once a church, then a mosque, then again a cathedral, the stones themselves bear witness to how the prayer of a people can slowly reshape the soul of a place. I'd love to visit and see what that feels like at prayer.
Perhaps that is why these questions stir something deeper in us. Consecrated spaces are not merely architecture. They are places where generations have gathered to offer their hearts to God. The prayers spoken there, the worship offered there, leave a kind of spiritual memory within the walls.
So the question, I think, is not about refusing hospitality. Hospitality is one of the most sacred instincts of the Christian heart. Rather, it is about whether the slow changing of how a place is used might gently alter the meaning of what that place has been set apart to be. And perhaps something has been slowly happening, for a change, in the consecration of Cathedrals in the UK, away from consecrated places of Christian worship.
Sacred places carry a fragile inheritance. And sometimes history reminds us how quietly that inheritance can change.
I like your idea of no prayers but a space for meals and hospitality!
There is a clear pattern in the spiritual low points of ancient Israel’s history in which they mix the worship of Yahweh with foreign gods in the spaces that were consecrated for exclusive worship.
For example, King Ahaz writes from Syria that he “saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. So Uriah the priest built an altar (in the temple courts) in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned” 2 Kings 16:10b-11. The same type of compromising actions were displayed by Ahab and later Manasseh. Prayers to other gods were offered alongside Israel’s God. The Bible couldn’t be stronger it’s it condemnation of these actions, eventually resulting in the exile.
Showing hospitality looks like kindly inviting people into the vehicle for a ride and extending friendship. Handing over the keys of leadership to have a visitor behind the wheel to drive it wherever they want isn’t hospitality, it is an abdication of a sacred trust that has been given by God and 900 years of faithful witness. If Muslims are looking for a place to eat, worship and say their prayers, they should certainly be able to do that. But before it is in our cathedrals, they need to be deconsecrated, and their doors closed to Christian worship, and tears shed for having lost such a rich legacy.
I'm a bit late in commenting, but two thoughts come to mind:
First: Could the reverse be true? Would Muslims allow Christians into their mosques and allow us to (for example) proclaim the Apostles' Creed or sing the Doxology? I find this doubtful, and frankly, I would not be comfortable doing so, even though I know that every square inch of this entire world belongs to the Lord Jesus.
Secondly, I believe having a group declare "there is no god but Allah" in a space set aside (consecrated) for the Lord God to be akin to blasphemy. How could it not be so? It is the very definition of it. I think there are other ways of showing hospitality to our neighbors, and building community, but allowing them into the very Holy Place/Sanctuary and share their meal, where we ourselves share our meal with our Lord each week??? Does no one see what is happening???
Would Muslims allow Christians into their mosques and allow us to (for example) proclaim the Apostles' Creed or sing the Doxology?
They would not. Some Christians see their hospitality as able to welcome this disparity. Others do not. Again it reveals what place and spaces and worship mean for people. Thanks for reading and your comment.
As someone who has only ever been met with kindness from Muslims I have worked alongside. I have no issue with offering hospitality to our lovely Muslim brothers and sisters with a meal, (in fact I have been in attendance at many an EID celebration meal). But I would draw the line with the Islamic prayers in our Holy places, I think the Muslims I have known would respect and agree with this line. I see one comment from a COO of a Cathedral has addressed that prayer space was found outside of the Cathedral. I think this is a good compromise.
Something else, not quite the same, but I think of interest, I add this; I was a prison Chaplain and one Sunday, a Satanist (unknown to me) came and disrupted our Holy Communion service. Once I discovered his registration I did withdraw hospitality to our Holy Communion from him, until he changed his religious registration. He stubbornly did not change it. My Christian brothers on the same wing reached out to him with hospitality. I also did allow him to join in “fun” events that took place in our Chapel. He wasn't bad, just young and misguided. Then one such day I saw him humbly praying at the altar. So I'm of the opinion its all about boundaries and balance. We should not sell our souls to popularity but remain open, kind and welcoming but with strong boundaries on the prayer and worship thereby maintaining the precious nature of our Christian faith and presence.
Well said, "its all about boundaries and balance. We should not sell our souls to popularity but remain open, kind and welcoming but with strong boundaries on the prayer and worship thereby maintaining the precious nature of our Christian faith and presence."
For our battle is not against flesh and l blood but principalities of darkness.”
If the above scripture is indeed true, then what “principalities of darkness” does a false religion to a pagan god bring into these holy places? It’s far from harmless or hospitable.
Very thoughtful article - thank you. There is an important question to be asked about the purpose and mission of Cathedrals in our post Christendom culture. However it’s worth noting for accuracy that there hasn’t been a grand Iftar in Bristol Cathedral this year. (There was on 2024 and 2025).
Thanks, Ben. I have notes in the article that say: 1)
Online tickets for 2026 at Bristol appeared on Eventbrite, but not on the Cathedral’s website. Iftars have definitely taken place in the previous two years.
2)
St Paul’s hosted an Ifta in previous years. Other cathedrals in the last few years doing the same include Manchester Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, Bradford Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral, and Blackburn Cathedral.
Hi Jason. You might have been looking at an Iftar at the Cathedral School next door - which regularly hosts one. But no Iftar in the Cathedral in 2026. As you say we (I’m the COO at the Cathedral) proudly hosted Iftars in 2024 and 2025 - with people of all faiths represented - as a multi faith meal to counteract some of the divisions in our community that we feel very keenly at the moment. Both were undertaken with much consultation and prayer before committing to them - with the Adhan being the focus of much of that discussion. In both cases the Adahn was not said in the Cathedral - but space was made outside of the building for that and for prayers. I say this not in defence, but to counteract the narrative that can come from articles like this that Cathedrals are in some way losing their focus on faith in Jesus Christ. We are absolutely motivated by following Him - and finding ways to connect with our whole community (as a building that also holds civic responsibilities). Other than this one point of inaccuracy - I really enjoyed your article, in fact I forwarded to our team to reflect on. If you ever want to come and see some of the complexities involved in our day to day life as a diocesan centre of prayer, worship and mission - as well as a civic space, heritage asset (liability!) and venue desperately trying to make ends meet, do get in touch and come and have a cuppa. You would be very welcome. (You’ll find my contacts by googling - probably!).
Hi Ben, thanks for taking the time to read and for clarifying the dates and locations of the Iftars. Thank you for your thoughtful and generous reply and for the clarification regarding the Adhan.
Reading your response, what struck me was how clearly it expresses the motivations that often underpin decisions like this: the desire to be welcoming, to counter division in the community, to recognise the cathedral's civic responsibilities, and to navigate the very real financial pressures that cathedral institutions face today.
Those instincts are entirely understandable and, in many ways, admirable.
My reflection was really trying to step back from the specifics of Bristol Cathedral itself and explore a wider theological question that events like this tend to raise within the Church: how we understand consecrated space, and how that understanding sits alongside the many pastoral, civic, and practical responsibilities that cathedrals now carry.
In that sense, the realities you describe — consultation, prayerful discussion, civic responsibility, and the practical need to sustain the life of the cathedral — actually illustrate the very tensions I was trying to name. Or hope I did!
I’m grateful that you engaged with the article in such a generous spirit and even shared it with your team for reflection.
And thank you as well for the kind invitation. I would very much enjoy taking you up on that offer of a cuppa sometime and hearing more about the day-to-day realities of cathedral life from your side.
Thank you! Jason
These are now mere husks and dead monuments to true Gospel faith in the Church of England in times gone by. The passion, humility and a life of diligent service for the Kingdom demonstrated by dear Anglican ministers like William Grimshaw are at an end! There are but 12 or so God honouring bishops left and the rest might as well work for Oxfam! Lock the doors and sell the obelisks to English Heritage. May God have mercy on this faithless, apathetic country whose Church is failing to honour the Great Commission to give the people hope in forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ! Ezekiel 37: 4-6 "Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”"
Love this article … as I read this I am lead to 1 Corinthians 6:19–20
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples (cathedrals???) of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.”
I am led to repentance as to the realisation of what I have allowed through the doors of my temple …. Through my eyes / my thoughts / my actions … thank you Jesus for the Cross! I’m thinking out loud … this then leads me to ask the question about my own hospitality to myself
For me I react with “outrageous!”. There are plenty of ways to demonstrate solidarity but not in a place of Christian worship.
Wow this is really shocking to me- probably some of it from having spent the majority of my Christian life in an Anglican setting where I very much feel the building and land has been consecrated. I was on the PCC and we were requested to place something in the car park that was contrary to God’s teaching. We did not give permission and faced some hostility due to the local power of the individuals who had made this request. Maybe not quite the same but to me comes down to showing honour and integrity to God. It is one thing to provide a space for people to meet to eat and another altogether to worship a God who is not ours .
Interesting perspective and thoughts. I genuinely can argue for both sides on this one. On one hand, hospitality is a good thing--a sacred duty even. On the other hand, the idea of sacred, thin-spaces is legitimate. This goes with the question of whether the Vatican should have a place for Muslims to pray as well. On one hand, it might give true believers a place to worship God without separating themselves from their families. On the other hand, it is a place of worshiping the Triune God. But if God dwells in mankind, not in the structure of a temple anymore then does the structure matter? Thanks for bringing this question up. If I was leading it, I might offer a meal, after the prayers. A space of welcome, but not necessarily a space of Islamic prayer. This reminds me of a mosque/catherdral/temple in Cordoba, Spain. Have you seen it? It is an amazing place to visit that challenges our perspectives... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque%E2%80%93Cathedral_of_C%C3%B3rdoba
My intention with my reply is to pose a question with regard to Muslims worshipping in the same place re the Vatican. What came straight to my mind- from watching The Chosen series 4 again this week and in the Bible is that Jesus makes it quite clear that following him will divide families and ultimately we give God the higher honour even with the commandment to honour our parents and all will go well with you. We welcome individuals, that does not mean we need to compromise the truth to appear ‘all inclusive, a comment that was made at a service I listened to today which made me shudder in my shoes
My own instinct is similar to what you described. Hospitality, meals, friendship, dialogue—absolutely. Those are deeply Christian acts. But using a consecrated cathedral for the formal prayer of another religion feels like crossing a theological boundary about what that space is for.
And yes, the Córdoba mosque–cathedral is fascinating precisely because it embodies centuries of religious change layered into one building. But it also reminds us how complicated those histories can be.
So I suspect the real challenge is this: how do we practise genuine Christian hospitality while still honouring the meaning of spaces dedicated to the worship of the Triune God?
The story of Córdoba shares an important lesson for us. The Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba is not simply a beautiful building; it is a place where the meaning of sacred space has changed with history. Once a church, then a mosque, then again a cathedral, the stones themselves bear witness to how the prayer of a people can slowly reshape the soul of a place. I'd love to visit and see what that feels like at prayer.
Perhaps that is why these questions stir something deeper in us. Consecrated spaces are not merely architecture. They are places where generations have gathered to offer their hearts to God. The prayers spoken there, the worship offered there, leave a kind of spiritual memory within the walls.
So the question, I think, is not about refusing hospitality. Hospitality is one of the most sacred instincts of the Christian heart. Rather, it is about whether the slow changing of how a place is used might gently alter the meaning of what that place has been set apart to be. And perhaps something has been slowly happening, for a change, in the consecration of Cathedrals in the UK, away from consecrated places of Christian worship.
Sacred places carry a fragile inheritance. And sometimes history reminds us how quietly that inheritance can change.
I like your idea of no prayers but a space for meals and hospitality!