Church Becomes Mosque in Visby - Local Paper Scolds the Critics

VISBY - The Muslim congregation on Gotland has signed the contract to buy a former Baptist church in Visby. Several million kronor are still missing, and nobody knows who will pay them.

Anyone worried about where the money comes from has simply fallen for the Sweden Democrats' "buzz" and scare tactics, according to the island's local paper, Hela Gotland.

Its editorial reminds critics that religious freedom is a core Swedish value. And to those who say Muslims should build mosques in their home countries, the paper has a short answer: that is exactly what they are doing.

The building, known as Vita huset - the White House - on Ekmansgatan in Visby, was bought in 2006 by a local branch of the temperance organisation IOGT-NTO. At the time it was a Baptist church. Since then the roughly 700 square metre building has served as a meeting hall, largely rented out to other groups.

READ ALSO: Former Church on Swedish Island Becomes Mosque - Funding Source Unclear

Now it is changing hands and becoming a house of worship again, but for a different religion. The buyer is the Gotland Muslim congregation, which already runs activities in the building and plans to turn all of it into a mosque.

Imam came from Syria in 2014

Behind the project is imam Majed Omar, who came to Sweden from Syria around 2014, as the great migrant wave from the Middle East reached Europe. A year later he co-founded an Islamic association in Härnösand and became imam at its mosque.

According to the seller, the bidding ended at 5.6 million kronor. The asking price was 4.5 million and three parties bid. A representative of IOGT-NTO has told Samnytt that the final sum will be slightly higher than 5.6 million.

The congregation plans to take over the property at the turn of the year. The full price must be paid by April 2027, but so far only the deposit has been paid. A fundraising campaign is running on social media to raise the rest.

How the congregation will find the millions over the winter and spring is unclear. So is how much has been raised so far, and who is giving. Omar says the purchase will be funded through gifts and donations.

"A mosque for all Muslim Gotlanders"

The mosque plan fits his long record in Muslim organisations and his ambition to spread Islam in Sweden. Omar writes that the goal is "a mosque for all Muslim Gotlanders" and "a house of God where everyone is welcome".

It feels both good and a little stressful at the same time. Now that we have taken the step of buying the property, our ambition is for it to be a congregation hall for our Gotland members, a mosque for all Muslim Gotlanders and a house of God where everyone is welcome.

- Majed Omar, imam and chairman of the Gotland Muslim congregation, to Hela Gotland

The question is how far that welcome really goes. Islam rejects both the Trinity and the belief that Jesus is the Son of God - the very core of the Christian faith the building was once built for.

Whether the church's former worshippers will be welcome to practise their Christian faith in the new "house of God" remains to be seen.

Four in five said no

Hela Gotland's readers were far from pleased. Reactions to the paper's news story about the sale were overwhelmingly negative.

Of 556 people who reacted, 446 hit the dislike button and only 110 liked the post. That is roughly 80 percent negative - about four thumbs down for every thumbs up.

That prompted the paper's editorial writer Katarina Hedström to step in and lecture Gotlanders, and other Swedes who visit the island or follow the news from elsewhere in the country.

She was especially bothered that many of the critics on social media do not live on Gotland, and described the negative reactions as a sign of intolerance.

READ ALSO: Swedes and Christian Immigrants Fear Stockholm Mega-Mosque - "They Are Dangerous"

Foreign money dismissed as "buzz"

Instead of asking why so many reacted, she chose to scold them. Under the headline "No time to begrudge the island's Muslims a meeting hall", she called the reactions sad and said that, as a thermometer of religious freedom and tolerance, they paint a gloomy picture.

She touches on the open questions about the purchase and how it will be paid for. Experts and official reports have warned for years about foreign actors funding religious groups to buy influence.

Hedström does not go there. Instead she plays down concerns about foreign money and dismisses the Sweden Democrats' warnings as "buzz" and scaremongering.

The Muslim congregation is appealing for mobile donations and gifts to complete the property deal. That sounds shaky and is likely to stir up the same buzz about "funding from abroad" that the Sweden Democrats have used to scare people over a mosque in Linköping.

- From Katarina Hedström's editorial in Hela Gotland

Critics who point to Swedish values in the comment sections have, according to Hedström, missed that religious freedom is a fundamental Swedish value. She also reminds readers that Gotland's Christians have 92 medieval churches.

To Swedes who think Muslims should build mosques in their home countries, she has a short reply: "Realise that that is what they are doing."

She also argues that nobody complained when the building was a Baptist church:

During all the years there was a Baptist church on Ekmansgatan in Visby, was there ever a grumble that they could fold their hands at home instead, so we "don't have to see that crap"? I would not think so.

- From Katarina Hedström's editorial in Hela Gotland