I am a staunch atheist and I defend the idea, grounded in piles of anthropological observation and philosophical reflection, that humanity created the deities, not the other way around. Vulnerable to finitude, man invents religion to cope with unbearable anguish and the material hardships of a harsh life. I sympathize with the Marxist conviction that religion is the opium of the people, an anesthetic for the suffering of daily exploitation, an ingredient, therefore, of docility and conformism. I did not have the grace, unlike Byung-Chul Han, to experience an epiphany that, in the contemplation and silence of the Church of the Congregados in Porto, placed him, three years ago, on the path to the divine.
However, I feel no moral superiority, nor do I intend to proselytize atheism, and I staunchly defend the right to religious practice. Therefore, the difficulties raised against the Islamic population residing in Porto (approximately seven thousand people) are incomprehensible. In my city there are two mosques (because the Muslim community, contrary to the stigmatizing simplification, is far from homogeneous, as Catholics or Protestants are diverse): the Islamic Cultural Center of Porto, on Rua do Heroísmo, and the Mosque of the Bangladesh Community Association of Porto, on Travessa do Loureiro, both small spaces compared to the mass of faithful. The latter is even threatened with closure by the real estate interests that own the space (the speculative city knows no value other than profit, even if the powerful bless themselves in Sunday homilies with the fervor of diploma-holding hypocrites).
Lacking the courage to confront the xenophobic wave, Rui Moreira backed down from granting, under surface rights, the use of two municipal properties for the construction of two mosques: one intended for the aforementioned Islamic Cultural Center of Porto and the other for the aforementioned Association of the Bangladeshi Community of Porto. Pedro Duarte, under a secular rhetoric, refuses to facilitate the use of municipal property for this purpose, equally fearful of the hegemony of hate speech. Neither of them has the backbone to confront the prevailing prejudice.
Will these people end up scattered across garages or tiny, undignified spaces in a city that calls them to hard, poorly paid jobs, but gives up on facilitating their integration—the only process capable of generating inclusion, respect, and dignity?
Porto has numerous Catholic and Protestant churches, churches of all faiths, and a beautiful synagogue. If they professed one of these religions, a thousand doors would open. They are Muslims, and a sea of difficulties descends upon them, the anathema of poor, infidel, and dangerous immigrants. The secular nature of the State does not imply indifference towards religious freedom; it precisely demands equal treatment among faiths.
This issue deserved a movement, a broad protest, uniting religious and atheists, in a city that likes to portray itself as open and welcoming. For all who believe, the city of men should be able to communicate with the city of God, whatever its name and image may be.
