Onward Christian Hoteliers

Report from the BBC just over an hour ago

A Christian couple from Liverpool have been cleared of charges that they insulted a Muslim guest at their bed & breakfast because she was wearing a hijab.

The hoteliers, Benjamin and Sharon Vogelenzang, faced a judge in a Liverpool Magistrates Court this week following accusations made by Ericka Tazi, who spent much of March 2009 at the B&B to attend classes at a nearby hospital. Tazi, a 60-year-old who converted to Islam 18 months ago, accused the Christian-devout Vogelenzangs of calling her a terrorist and insulting her choice of religion by comparing the Prophet Muhammad to several infamous dictators. The couple, while admitting that they did weren't fond of Tazi's apparel selection, seeing it as a form of bondage, they say the discussion wasn't as heated as Tazi claims.

Judge Richard Clancy, who was hearing the case, ruled following two days of testimony that the evidence was inconsistent to the charges presented and threw the case out. While the Vogelenzangs were quick to offer praise to God and their supporters for holding prayer vigils, business to their B&B has dropped by 80 percent.

Indeed a case of "she said, she said" heightened by the differing, entrenched views of two Abrahamic religions. Hopefully, both parties in the case will during this festive season find cause to, while extolling their beliefs, gain a degree of tolerance for others. If anyone is destined or inclined to convert, he or she will do so best when he or she is the one seeking out for spiritual guidance.