Ramadan Encroaches on Sacred Anglican Sites
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Islam's Theology Nullifies Everything Christian About a Place of Worship
COMMENTARY
By David W. Virtue, DD
March 19, 2026
Ramadan is a sacred moment for Islam. It is not so for Christians or Jews. While it is a significant religious event for Muslims, all three religions do emphasize fasting as a means of spiritual reflection and atonement.
With Ramadan, we are slowly but surely seeing the encroachment and dismantling of cherished Anglican institutions as Islam is invited into once-hallowed Christian places of worship.
At Bristol Cathedral last week, a group of Muslims sat on the floor eating their Ramadan Iftar meal. For liberal-minded Anglicans, it might look like a gesture of hospitality — a moment of interfaith goodwill. But is it?
According to an observer, the call to prayer was sounded at the cathedral entrance. Here is what that prayer proclaims:
"Allah is the greatest…
I testify there is no god but Allah…
I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah…
Come to prayer."
Historically and culturally, the Adhān (Arabic: أذان) literally means the call to prayer proclaimed five times a day from a mosque.
It functions as:
• A proclamation of Islamic faith
• A claim that a place has become a site of Muslim prayer
• A signal that an area belongs to the "realm of Islam" (dar al-Islam)
Do liberal and progressive Anglicans and Episcopalians understand what this means — or what it does to their churches?
At Sewanee: The University of the South — the Episcopal Church's only university, owned by 28 southern dioceses and home to an official seminary — an end-of-Ramadan feast was recently held with this welcome from the Muslim Student Association: "MSA seeks to unify both Muslims and non-Muslims at Sewanee through various cultural events and gathering opportunities, all aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of Islamic culture."
As one longtime observer of Sewanee noted, "Only a racist would ask: Why are those who didn't create this university now telling us what the university is? That is why incrementalism defeated Christianity at Sewanee — because of the anti-racism ideology."
A Canadian school banned children from eating in its cafeteria during Ramadan to avoid offending Muslim students.
In Islam, culture and religion are inseparable. Consider Gaza, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Try being a Christian in any of those countries.
Several Episcopal churches actively celebrate Ramadan through interfaith events, typically including iftar dinners where Muslims break their fast. Notable examples include:
• St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in San Jose, CA: Hosts interfaith iftars to support the Muslim community during Ramadan.
• St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Arlington, VA: Organized a Ramadan iftar dinner featuring a Turkish meal and discussion about the significance of Ramadan.
• Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, TX: Hosts an annual Ramadan dinner to promote interfaith understanding.
• Epiphany Episcopal Church in Rochester, NY: Collaborated with the American Turkish Friendship Association for an iftar dinner.
This names but a few Episcopal churches.
The outrage here is not simply that Christianity and Islam are different religions competing for converts. It is that Islam is a conquering religion that would destroy Christianity if given the opportunity.
Theologically naive Episcopal priests — some of whom may have studied only one book of the Bible in seminary — warmly welcome Muslims into their churches without grasping that, by doing so, they effectively nullify those buildings as Christian places of worship.
The Middle East tells the story plainly. Christianity in the region has fallen from roughly 13–20% of the population in the early 20th century to around 3–4% today, due to persecution, conflict, and emigration. Christianity originated in the Middle East, with some of the earliest communities established in the 1st century AD. Over the centuries those communities have faced systemic persecution — particularly during the Ottoman Empire — and more recently the rise of extremist groups like ISIS, compounded by political instability, civil wars, and economic crises in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.
Christians today make up just 2% of Israel's adult population and roughly 4% of the broader Middle East–North Africa region. Most are of Arab and Palestinian descent; while their relationship with the Israeli state is uneasy, they are free to worship without fear. The region still contains some of Christianity's holiest sites — the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Church of St. Anne, and the Church of All Nations, among others.
There are roughly 10–12 million Arab Christians living in the Middle East today. That number is an estimate because population data varies by country and is affected by migration, war, and low birth rates.
Best current research estimates suggest there are between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Christians from a Muslim background (MBBs) across the Middle East today, most affiliated with Protestant churches. Were Iran ever to overrun Israel — a near-impossibility — those Christians would have almost no place at all.
The foolishness of American Episcopal churches cannot be overstated. The prevailing doctrine of niceness is a recipe for spiritual and theological disaster and cultural capitulation.
According to The Stream, Muslims are buying and converting American churches into mosques — and Americans are angry. But is their anger directed at the right source? A year-old video of Muslim cleric Muhammad Musri, president of American Islam and chairman of the board of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, recently went viral on X. In it, he argued that Christianity is dying in America, preparing the way for Islam:
"A lot of Christians are leaving their faith, especially the young generation. The churches are emptying out. The Pew Research Center has shown that in the last 10 years, 28% of people have left the church and become atheists or agnostics. They are not impressed anymore by the dogma that someone 2,000 years ago was crucified for their sins. They are searching for something more meaningful, consistent with science and with the principles we know today. Islam is the answer for them, and we are jumping on the opportunities."
He continued: "As these churches empty out… we are buying them. We bought three churches so far and converted them into mosques, and now we have one we are buying with a school… The people who are part of that community one day will be Muslims. So we will make it into a mosque and an Islamic school for our children and their children, inshallah [Allah willing]… I ask Allah to give Islam victory in this country."
This is what happens when progressive Christians dilute their faith. In the end, nothing is left — and when nothing is left, a stronger force moves in.
END