United Congressional Church
A Christian congregation in Connecticut that dates back to the 1600s has sold its church building to a Muslim group that plans to turn the building into a mosque.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the historic United Congregational Church will sell its 1920s Georgian-Revival style church building to the Bridgeport Islamic Community Center for a price of $1 million.
The church dates back to the Colonial Era, when it was founded in 1695 as the Ecclesiastical Society of Stratfield.
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“This is much bigger than a sale of a building. It’s about healing wounds. It’s about building peace. It’s about making friends,” the Rev. Sara Smith said at a press conference on Monday. “It is about showing a witness to the world that the children of Abraham and everybody else included can work together, can live together in respect and dignity. Isn’t that what all of our faiths are about?”
Ahmed Ebrahim, who heads the Bridgeport Islamic Community Center, told WSJ that the two factors that led his organization to purchase the historic church building were that it’s already zoned for religious use and has the space needed for the 1,000 Muslim families in the Bridgeport area that expect to worship and pray at the mosque.
“It’s a perfect fit for our needs,” Ebrahim explained, adding that the outgoing Christian congregation will help prepare the building by removing the cross from the altar. ...
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