Open Mosque Day – united in diversity ,
Source: © iStock | bodrumsurf
Since 1997, 3 October has been celebrated as Open Mosque Day, when many Islamic places of worship across Germany open their doors to the public. One of them is the mosque of the Association of Islamic Cultural Centres (VIKZ) in Herrenberg, in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, which is participating in the DIK’s funding initiative "Moscheen für Integration" (Mosques for integration). Together with other Muslim and religious institutions and the town of Herrenberg, the Selimiye Camii mosque offers a tour of the town, sending a signal of community, openness, diversity and democracy on the 30th anniversary of German reunification. These values are the foundation on which our society is based and which strengthen social cohesion in Germany.
They are precisely the values that the mosques for integration funding initiative is intended to foster. The three-year model project aims to make the social and pastoral work of Muslim and Alevi congregations more visible, to assist them in this work, and to establish connections between them and their local communities and districts, thereby increasing their role as civil-society actors. The project is guided by the Berlin consulting firm Syspons. In this way, the DIK’s funding initiative is helping to maintain and renew social cohesion, which is a core element of the Federal Ministry of the Interior’s policy on community.