wfn.org | KORAN FOR LENT

[Audrey Whitefield <a.whitefield@quest.org.uk>]

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Feb. 24, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.2.3.2]

ENGLAND: BISHOP TAKES UP KORAN FOR LENT

(ENI, ACNS checked and cleared story with Bishop) A Church of England
bishop has joined millions of Christians around the world by 'giving up'
something he likes for Lent. But Dr Alan Smithson, Bishop of Jarrow, has
made an unusual choice for his Lenten sacrifice - he has given up
reading
the Bible and has taken up the holy Muslim book, the Koran, instead.

"If only all Christians would take seriously the beliefs of other
traditions and religions, we would be all the better for it," Bishop
Smithson told reporters. "I am passionately concerned that we help the
Church to move into a wider scene where we are not just preoccupied with
Christian issues, but understand other faiths, not as rivals, but as
fellow
travellers. The Western world needs to learn from Islam. There are
qualities of holiness and commitment that the faithful Muslim shows that
the Western world can learn from."

Dr Smithson told The Times  newspaper in London that, apart from reading
St
John's Gospel, traditionally read by many Christians during the 40 days
of
Lent, he would not study the Bible until Easter. He normally spends up
to
two hours a day studying the Bible, but will read 20 pages of the Koran
a
day instead. He said he had never read the Koran before and wanted to
approach it with an open mind. After a 'good expedition' through the
Koran,
he would look forward to getting back to the Bible at Easter.