Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Mosque in Paris and the president of the French Council of Muslim Faith, said: "It's a delicate issue, but why not?"

There are currently about 2500 mosques in France with another 300 under construction, but the number falls short of what is needed, he said.

With roughly 5 million Muslims in France, at least 5000 mosques are needed, Mr Boubakeur said.

His remarks were welcomed by the Christian community as a "legitimate" demand.

"Muslims should, like Christians and Jews, be able to practice their religion," said Msgr Ribadeau-Dumas, spokesperson for the French bishops' conference.

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The first national mosque open day, to be held on October 25, will see non-Muslims invited to take tours of mosques and to ask questions of Islamic leaders.

It will be followed by a "Walk Together" march in 20 cities organised by an interfaith group, Welcome to Australia.

The National Unity Day events were announced by Muslim, Christian and Jewish community leaders at Sydney's Pitt Street Uniting Church on October 8, the Guardian Australia reported.

The president of the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) in Australia, Samier Dandan, said the day was about "demonstrating to the wider community that our mosques are open", an openness he hoped would be taken up by in the general public.

"If you have a question, go straight to the source, do your own research, find out what a Muslim stands for, what a Christian stands for, what a Jew stands for.

"I guarantee that you that what you'll find is that 99 per cent between the different faiths is common," he said.

Mr Dandan said the LMA was implementing other interfaith projects, including organising visits between private Islamic and Jewish schools "to cross-pollinate their mindsets".

These moves come at a time when Muslims are feeling increasingly marginalised in Australia and there is disturbing evidence of hate crimes across the country.

Maha Abdo, the chief executive the Muslim Women's Association in Australia, said the debate around Islam in the past weeks, including last week's ban on people with facial coverings sitting in federal Parliament's open public gallery, had made Muslims "fearful and anxious".

But she was heartened by the backlash to the burqa decision, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott's request to Parliament's presiding officers to reconsider the ruling.

Uniting Church Australia president Reverend Andrew Dutney said it was important that Christians loved their neighbours as themselves.

Rabbi Adam Stein, from the conservative Kehilat Nitzan Synagogue in Melbourne, also leant his support to the initiative.

"A National Day of Unity helps us remember that there are more ­issues that unite us than divide us," Rabbi Stein said.

Sources

• Guardian Australia
• The Australian
• St George and Sutherland Shire Leader
• Image: The Guardian

The Archbishop of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos II, says artworks in the Christian churches attacked have been confiscated and sold, and Cyprian Christians have also been assaulted. He said Turkey is trying to eliminate Christianity in the part of Cyprus it controls.

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There are nearly 150 mosques now under construction in France, and by contrast only 20 new Catholic churches have been built in the past decade, while 60 churches have been closed - in some cases, to be converted into mosques.

Over 40 million French people identify themselves as Catholics, but fewer than 2 million practice the faith regularly.

There are only 4.5 million Muslims living in the country, but 41%, or 2.5 million, practice their faith regularly.

Taken together, the research data suggests Islam is well on its way to overtaking Roman Catholicism as the dominant religion in France, and as their numbers grow, Muslims in France are becoming far more assertive than ever before.

Muslim groups in France are now asking the Roman Catholic Church for permission to use its empty churches as a way to solve the traffic problems caused by thousands of Muslims who pray in the streets.

Every Friday, thousands of Muslims in Paris and other French cities close off streets and sidewalks to accommodate overflowing crowds for midday prayers.

Some mosques have also begun broadcasting sermons and chants of "Allah Akbar" via loudspeakers in the streets.

Sources

• Hudson Institute
• Image: WAT.tv