NZ pastor bans concert with Islamic call to prayer

By Jill Fraser

MELBOURNE, Australia

A New Zealand Anglican dean has been accused of bigotry for prohibiting his cathedral choir from performing a concert because it includes the Islamic call to prayer, Adhan.

South Island's Dean Nick Kirk has since defended his decision, telling town newspaper The Nelson Mail that "the Islamic call to prayer is [just] not Christian."

"Because of different beliefs we have decided not to accept the singing of 'The Armed Man' in" Christ Church Cathedral. "People have to understand that Christianity stands alone."

Composer Sir Karl Jenkins' celebrated choral work -- titled "The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace" -- is about promoting tolerance.

The Welsh composer -- who received a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours this year -- this month told local radio station Classic FM that his mass has been performed in many cathedrals in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

To refuse a performance because of the inclusion of the call to prayer, he said, is part of the bigotry that has led to conflicts and wars.

"This has happened before -- and I remember one occasion in Berlin where it was banned from the cathedral and moved to the Konzerthaus," added Jenkins.

He recounted that a German journalist had written at the time that "this was the church that 60 years ago was happy to have the swastika draped over the altar."

"That says a lot," he underlined.

The composer's management has released a statement on his behalf, saying Jenkins wrote the piece "as a meditation on the destructive nature of divisions between different cultures and nations".

It underlined that the reason for including the call to prayer alongside texts and musical quotes from Christian sources, Hindu sources and Hiroshima survivors, is that "the composer wishes to explore the possibility that tolerance could heal and prevent such divisions."

It is his "explicit wish" that any performance of the piece includes the call to prayer, it stated.

Jenkins has stipulated that if the call to prayer is omitted, a period of silence must replace it, with a note in the program stating it would normally be heard at that point.

Classic FM reported that Nelson Civic Choir will now present the work at an alternative venue in a nearby college Oct. 26.