Gloucester Cathedral.
An interfaith art exhibition at Gloucester Cathedral has been vandalised and artworks stolen in what its creator believes may be a protest attack.
The Faith show in the cathedral cloisters attracted criticism for its use of an Islamic call to prayer as well as Islamic images and filmed interviews with representatives of other faiths, including Wicca.
Several paintings by portrait artist Russell Haines, who put the exhibition together, have been taken along with light projectors and sound systems.
He told the Observer: 'The point of this project was to show and to emphasis what we all have in common, precisely not to tell people what they ought to think.
'I never thought this would happen, although I knew some people would not like it.'
As well as paintings, the exhibition features filmed interviews projected in the cloisters and Chapter House.
Haines said he had no proof the thefts were related to Islamophobia. However, he said: 'It is strange that of the four films we made, the ones that were taken were the two with a lot of Islamic content. I can't prove it, but I know there are a lot of people who don't like it. It is pure Islamophobia and racism at work. I have had threats, but most have been against the local vicar who helped me, Ruth Fitter. She has had some dreadful things sent to her.'
The Gloucester exhibition opened in the wake of a controversy sparked by a reading from the Quran at St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow which denied the divinity of Christ. Gloucester Cathedral removed a clip of the Islamic call to prayer from its Facebook page after criticism, though the cathedral's dean Stephen Lake stressed the call to prayer and exhibition were not in a 'sacred space' and it was not in the context of worship.
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