Author: Andrew Higgins and Fatjona Mejdini
Published on: 04/01/2025 | 00:00:00
AI Summary:
A Move Toward Christianity Stirs in a Muslim Land Christian converts in Kosovo, where the vast majority of people are Muslim, hope to revive a pre-Islamic past they see as a key to their European identity. In a census last spring, 93 percent of the population professed itself Muslim and only 1.75 percent Roman Catholic. A small number of ethnic Albanian Christian activists, all converts from Islam, are urging their ethnic kin to look to the church as an expression of their identity. Ethnic Albanians, who trace their roots to an ancient people called the Illyrians, live mainly in Albania, a country on the Adriatic Sea. But they also make up a large majority of the population in neighboring Kosovo and more than a quarter of North Macedonia. So far, the baptism ceremonies taking place in Kosovo have stirred no violent opposition. Archaeologists in 2022 uncovered the remains of a sixth-century Roman church near Pristina. In 2023 found a mosaic with an inscription indicating early Albanians were Christians. Traces of Kosovo’s distant pre-Islamic past also survived in a small number of families that clung to Roman Catholicism. Arber Gashi, an ethnic Albanian living in Switzerland, traveled to Kosovo to attend the baptism ceremony at the church in Llapushnik. He and other activists worry that funding for mosque-building and other activities from Turkey and countries in the Middle East threatens Kosovo’s traditionally laid-back form of Islam. Most of this money has gone into economic development projects unrelated to religion. Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian prime minister played down the importance of religion to Albanian identity. “For us, religions came and went but we are still here,” he said. The main warring parties in the early phases of the conflict spoke much the same language. The gathering, attended by nationalist intellectuals and former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters, discussed ways to promote “Albanian-ness” and decided that Christianity would help. The gathering led to the formation of what was initially called the Movement for the Abandonment of the Islamic Faith, a provocative name since largely dropped in favor of the “Movement of Return” Andrew Higgins is the East and Central Europe bureau chief for The Times based in Warsaw. Tourists Venture to Afghanistan: With the war over, the Taliban are welcoming foreign travelers. The Voice of Old Japan: Midori Kato, 85, is the last original member of the cast of “Sazae-san”.
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Summary: 413 words
Percent reduction: 76.26%