World Central Kitchen, the charity founded by chef José Andrés, is holding a memorial service at Washington’s National Cathedral on Thursday for its seven aid workers who were killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza. In addition to Christian and Jewish readings, the ‘multi-faith’ service will feature readings of an Islamic Hadith and excerpts of the Quran. The National Cathedral is a consecrated Episcopalian church, and traditional Christian teaching is clear that holding services of non-Christian religions — in this case, Islam and Judaism — in a consecrated church is sacrilegious and desecrates the Holy space.
According to the service’s program, after the anthem in procession and opening hymn, attendees will be seated, and the service will commence with a reading from the Hadith, the sayings of Mohammed, by Imam Dr. Talib M. Shareef. Later in the service, excerpts from the Quran — Fatir 35:10 and Fussilat 41:34-35 — will be read, as well as a Muslim prayer. The sacrilegious service will also feature readings from the Jewish Talmud and Jewish prayers.
In 2015, a ‘multi-faith’ service featuring Islamic readings at St John’s church in Waterloo, London, was condemned by the Anglican Bishop of Southwark, Christopher Chessun. “Whilst it is very important to build good interfaith relations, it is clear that an act of worship from a non-Christian faith tradition is not permitted within a consecrated Church of England building,” Chessun said at the time. The Episcopal Church in America is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Shareef, the Muslim cleric featured in the service, is the imam and president of Masjid Muhammed, a historically African-American mosque in Washington, D.C., that was founded by the extremist and racist Nation of Islam as Temple 4.
