A Muslim stonemason who spent nearly 40 years helping to restore a Roman Catholic cathedral in France has been immortalized as a gargoyle peering out from its facade -- with the inscription "God is great" written in French and Arabic.
It was conceived as a symbol of inter-religious friendship that reflects the city of Lyon's links to its large Muslim population. But a widely publicized outcry from a small extreme-right group has forced the Archdiocese of Lyon into damage control.
Ahmed Benzizine, who was born in Algeria, a former French colony, sees the gargoyle sculpted in his image on St. Jean Cathedral as "a message of peace and tolerance."
For Emmanuel Fourchet, the sculptor who immortalized Benzizine, "it was an occasion to pay tribute" to his decades of work on the cathedral.
But the extreme-right Identity Youth of Lyon began a campaign in recent months denouncing the likeness of a Muslim on a Catholic institution, and the inscription "God is great" in French and Arabic -- "Dieu est grand, Allahu akbar." It sees those things as a manifestation of "conquering Islam."
The Rev. Michel Cacaud, rector of the cathedral, disagrees. "There is no religion that doesn't say 'God is great,'" he said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
