Courtesy of The Daily News

Tayla Whitehead

Staff Writer
@taylaalaaaa

A historical Catholic church is Syracuse, N.Y. has found itself as the subject of a contest between two religious groups.

The historical church, known as Holy Trinity Catholic Church, was built by German immigrants almost a century ago and now 100 years later the ancient building is in the process of an extreme, but still holy, makeover.

The antique structure is being revamped into a mosque, starting with the removal of six crosses on the building. The removal of the crosses was explained by the center’s director, saying that leaving the crosses up would violate the faith’s ban on worshipping idols.

The North Side Learning Center paid $150 000 for the property and vacant buildings, and has since decided to transform the church into a mosque to rent out and move a school onto a trinity campus, a school that provides literacy education to refugees from Burma, Bhutan, and Somalia.

There were petitions against the removals of the six crosses, as those opposed believe it to be a desiccation of the church. The ultimate decision lay with the city’s landmark preservation board, and in the end the vote approved the removals. The board was warned that they were prohibited from interfering with a group’s religious freedom.

Freedom to religion is a fundamental human right, and it should always be remembered that the place of worship should never be more important than the god you worship.

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