Somehow, ModBlog seems to have disappeared.
As long as this is not solved, I will blog here.
Today, on Tripoli in Libya.
Near the second century arch of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius are a mosque and a church.
The church is Greek Orthodox, and from the sixteenth century.
Both a Greek and a Libyan flag at its entrance.
The mosque from the 1830s was built by an Ottoman governor and admiral.
He used precious materials from Italy and other countries.
The other mosque was one of the oldest of Libya.
Partly destroyed by Spanish invaders in the sixteenth century, now it is functioning again.
When Mussolini occupied Libya, many Roman Catholic churches were built.
Today, only one is still functioning as such: St Francis church.
The faithful are mainly immigrants to Libya from French-speaking African countries; and Italy and Croatia, judging by literature displayed in the church.
Mussolini’s colonial war against Ethiopia: here.
Jews from Libya: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Libya: Faith Leaders Praise Dialogue Between Tripoli And the Holy See
Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
4 September 2007
Posted to the web 4 September 2007
African religious leaders have praised a more than 25-year-long dialogue between Libya and the Vatican as a positive contribution to good relations between Christianity and Islam.
“Given the global situation between Christians and Muslims which is understood to be very tense because of what happened on 11 September [2001], I think this is a very good contribution,” the Rev. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation told Ecumenical News International.
Noko is convenor of Inter-Faith Action for Peace in Africa, which met in Tripoli from 27 to 30 August. Libya is predominantly Muslim but there is also a small Catholic presence in the former Italian colony.
Unknown to many people, according to Sheikh Saleh Habimana, the Mufti of Rwanda and the chairperson of the Muslim Councils for East, Central and Southern Africa, representatives of the Catholic Church and Tripoli have been holding discussions over the past 25 years aimed at bridging the faiths.
“We meet yearly,” Habimana said. “One year in Tripoli and the other at the Vatican. We have been discussing how we can work together in areas of common interest, such as refugees and education.”
Following the 1969 revolution that brought Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi to power, Catholics were allowed to keep two churches, one in Tripoli and the other in Benghazi.
The Benghazi church was confiscated a few years later, but in 1976, an Islam-Christian congress was held in Tripoli organized by the Holy See. This marked the start of the dialogue.
Sheikh Habimana said the two parties had recently discussed the issue of migrants who try to reach Europe from Africa by crossing the Mediterranean, often in small unsafe boats.
“The Islamic society is trying to minimize the dangers of those who cross to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. This is an issue for debate,” Habimana said, noting that dialogue has also focussed on educational development in Africa.
“As you know, most schools in Africa belong to churches and to some extent to Muslims,” Habimana said. “We have been discussing the sensitivities in acquiring education in such schools.”
Father Maloba Wesonga, the administrative secretary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi in Kenya praised the dialogue as an “indispensable initiative” promoting unity in diversity.
The interfaith meeting was organized by the Union of Muslim Councils for East, Central and Southern Africa. It brought together representatives of seven religions in Africa: African Traditional Religion, Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.
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Libya
November 30, 2009
PRESS RELEASE
18 October 2009
Submitted for posting by Veronica Ugates
Heroes Publication-Tripoli Libya
November 30, 2009
About a hundred and twenty leaders and representatives from twelve (12) Filipino civic organizations spearheaded by the Filipino Community Organization in Libya (FILCOL), four (4) religious denominations and, at least, from ten (10) different hospitals and companies jam-packed the Filipino Workers Resource Center, POLO, Philippine Embassy last 02 October 2009 to offer their prayers in an occasion they dubbed “Interfaith Prayer for the Nation”.
Click to enlarge image.
Ambassador Vicente Addresses Attendees
Earnestly responding to the “call for help”, currently being initiated by most sectors of the society in the Philippines and even by Filipino groups and individuals overseas for the victims of typhoon “Ondoy”, Labor Attaché Nasser S. Mustafa called on all leaders of the different Filipino communities in Tripoli and nearby places for an emergency meeting on 28 September 2009.
Click to enlarge image.
Nasser S Mustafa Labor Attache II
It was not very hard for everyone to agree that nothing would be more effective than prayers performed together by Filipinos regardless of their class and religious affiliations.
The momentous affair started off with a video presentation of the actual miserable situation at the onset, in the midst and the aftermath of the typhoon. Labor Attaché Nasser S. Mustafa then welcomed everyone present and informed them on how the “Interfaith Prayer for the Nation” was conceptualized.
Click to enlarge image.
Third Secretary and Vice Consul Jose Garcia III
Third Secretary and Vice Consul Jose Garcia III then encouraged everyone to give in whatever form they deem appropriate.
Click to enlarge image.Philippine Ambassador to Libya HE Alejandrino A Vicente
The Philippine Ambassador to Libya, H.E. Alejandrino A. Vicente gave an extensive account of the different programs and projects currently undertaken by the Philippine government thru Malacanang for the victims of said calamity.
Spirit-filled prayers followed led by the leaders of the different religious denominations in Tripoli including the St. Francis Catholic Church, the El Shaddai Movement, Islam, Evangelical Christian Church in Libya and Jesus Is Lord Church.
Click to enlarge image.Spirit-filled Prayers Led by the Leaders of the Different Religious Denominations
Praise and worship songs were sang in between the prayers. When prompted, everyone cheerfully responded to the invitation for the “passing of hat”.
FILCOL President Necitas A. Macavinta then took the opportunity to inform everyone present that several other fund-raising activities are being undertaken by the different Filipino communities under the same aim.
She also announced that an adhoc committee composed of the leaders of the 12 civic organizations in Libya, was formed to handle the funds collected. She then intimated that, at least, Three Thousand Nine Hundred Thirty-Seven (LD 3,937.00) Libyan Dinars and Two Hundred (US$ 200.00) US Dollars were initially garnered from the different Filipino groups.
The affair then ended with everyone in fellowship with one another while they were treated with dinner courtesy of Ambassador Vicente.
http://www.mnnetherlands.com/categories/news/307/307_filipinosinlibyaofferpray.php
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June 11, 2012
NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep is taking a Revolutionary Road Trip across North Africa to see how the countries that staged revolutions last year are remaking themselves. Steve and his team are traveling some 2,000 miles from Tunisia’s ancient city of Carthage, across the deserts of Libya and on to Egypt’s megacity of Cairo. In his first story from Libya, he looks at what has changed in a country that was dominated for decades by one man.
We begin our exploration of Libya at a centuries-old stone castle that now serves as the national museum, because much of our reporting here involves Libya’s reckoning with the not-so-distant past.
As we stroll around the museum in the capital Tripoli, we find artifacts from the ancient Roman period, 2,000 years ago, spectacular statues and gravestones that have been brought in from along the coastline and even deep in the Libyan desert.
There used to be more recent artifacts in this room were we’ve just walked. They included a couple of vehicles associated with former dictator Moammar Gadhafi, like a Volkswagen Beetle that he apparently drove in the 1960’s.
Those have now been put in storage.
A museum employee, Najat Ben Hamida, showed us where artifacts glorifying Gadhafi’s 42-year rule used to occupy much of the fourth floor.
Now the floor is bare, and the document display cases are empty.
“Everything here belonged to Gadhafi,” she says. All kinds of documents, she adds, though she acts like she never paid much attention to them.
Elsewhere, the museum staff has done the equivalent of repairing Libyan history with duct tape. Workers have put Libyan flag stickers over displays that give Gadhafi’s personal name for Libya — the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahurriya -– a made-up Arabic word.
More permanent changes to Libya’s history will take time.
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/11/154572084/looking-to-the-future-libya-erases-part-of-its-past?ft=1&f=1001&sc=tw&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
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