Cycling for mutual respect

Jews and Muslims do not understand each other? Every Muslim is an anti-Semite? Religious communication is impossible? - These are just a few of the common prejudices. On the other hand, how harmoniously Jews, Christians and Muslims pray, teach and work together not only in our House of One, is on the other hand something that only a few perceive. News of violence against  people wearing a Kippa or arson attacks on mosques push these positive stories in the background.

Imams and rabbis, Jewish cantors, theologians and educators from both religions therefore swung on tandems last Sunday and cycled through Berlin as part of this year's "meet2respect" bike parade. Numerous employees of the House of One have also participated in the action - even with a rickshaw. After all, the House of One stands for all three monotheistic religions which in their entirety do not fit on a tandem. The tour started at the Holocaust Memorial and ran 18 kilometers through downtown Berlin, before ending with a rally at Bebelplatz.

Rabbi Andreas Nachama, who shared the rickshaw with Imam Kadir Sanci and Rev. Corinna Zisselsberger, picked up a megaphone during the first stop at the synagogue on Fasanenstraße. "It is important that the three religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - which have not always had the best relationship over the centuries, now converge." The demonstration is an encouraging symbol in this context. "Christians, Jews and Muslims can not only ride a bike together, but can also jointly build a house, as you can see on the House of One." In every human being, Nachama says further on, there is an image of God, whether Muslim, Christian or Jew.

Meryem Öztürk from the education circle of the House of One shared a tandem with the cantor Esther Hirsch. Asked about her motivation to take part in the action, she said, "To put it bluntly, I want to make a statement that as a Muslim I'm not anti-Semitic, that we can live together and do not hate each other." Her companion Esther Hirsch added: "Of course there are many prejudices, but especially religious people are very attentive and that we would like to show with this action as well." On the tandem obviously the interreligious togetherness worked already.

Besides Sawsan Chebli, State Secretary of Berlin for International Affairs, also the State Minister for Integration, Annette Widmann-Mauz (CDU), and Culture Senator of Berlin, Klaus Lederer (Linke), took the podium during the rally on Bebelplatz. Chebli, who comes from a Palestinian family, said that she is sometimes criticized on the Muslim side, when she addresses anti-Semitism. "You have to be brave enough to withstand the pressure you experience in your own community," Chebli said. But she also knows the feeling of deep mistrust on the Jewish side, behind which is the concern that she may play down anti-Semitism among Muslims. Chebli appealed to those present: "We need trust!"

For this the tandem tour may be a symbol - especially in times in which hate messages are so strong and love messages so rare.