I was recently a visitor on business to the town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, and while there got to chance to examine two conversions of existing buildings for the use by of those of minority religions.

These buildings belong respectively to the Hindus and the Muslims. Now an examination of the styles of these buildings is interesting because their outward appearance shows us all the huge difference in religious attitudes between these two faiths internally, theologically and to the wider community.

The Hindu community centre is a discreet conversion of a former Christian Chapel. There is nothing that screams ‘Hindu’ about this building apart from the sign. Although some purpose built Hindu temples can be colourful and highly decorated and very attractive, this is not one of them. Even driving past it you don’t anything like the sense that those who worship here are in any way shape or form a problem to the rest of us. It’s just a place where British Hindus can worship peacefully. Look at this picture of the Hindu centre, I can’t see anything wrong with this can you?

I can well imagine being delighted to be invited to an event here, even though I’m not a Hindu. I’d probably think ‘great some nice veggie food’, or maybe some intelligent conversation or gain a greater insight into what is one of the world’s great civilisations. Also I’ve never met a Hindu who wanted to kill me for not being a Hindu, or not wanting to be a Hindu.

Now let us turn out attention to the house of worship of the Muslims about half a mile further on down the road. Here we have a building, also a conversion of an existing building, that appears to have been converted in such a manner that it almost appears purposely designed to say ‘f**k you’ to any of the non-Muslims that see it. A large and very ugly dome has been superimposed onto its roof, and this building conversion looks very much out of place when looked at alongside existing buildings. Unlike its near neighbour the Hindu centre, this mosque exudes a sense of malevolence and menace. This mosque is not an attractive building, but then Islam is not exactly an attractive ideology. Here’s a picture of the mosque. Do you think that this is an attractive building or is in keeping with its surroundings? I know that I do not.

Here’s a close up of the dome and crescent that adorns the top of the building.

(It also appears that, as is common in cases involving mosques, the management of the mosque played fast and loose with the planning law over the matter of the Dome see this link http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/Muslim-Association-mosque-dome/story-11939180-detail/story.html

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I can well imagine being absolutely shit scared about being invited into this mosque. All that would be running through my mind would be images of the latest Islamic beheading. Also, I’ve come across countless Muslims who have expressed the desire to kill me, something that doesn’t exactly fill me with love for them.

What we have here is two buildings, in the same town, converted to a different use by members of minority religions. That is where the similarities stop. The Hindu building invites either curiosity or a sense of ‘so what, it’s a Hindu temple’. The Muslim building on the other hand encourages a sense of uneasiness and also anger that this appalling ideology, one that has aspects that are very akin to Nazism, is permitted to openly display its symbols and so completely dominate its surroundings.

British Hindus have never been a threat to other British people. They have never bombed our trains or buses, and I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a British Hindu who has attempted to engage in aggressive proselyting and they rarely if ever, make unreasonable demands of the rest of us.

The difference between these two buildings can tell us a lot about the differences between Hindusim and Islam. One is different but discreet, the other is dominating and aggressive. I know which religious path I fear the most, and it’s not the Hindus I can tell you.