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Islamic tolerance alert: let them put a mosque in Rome, and then these Christians will have a case when they complain about Qatar -- what's that? There is a mosque in Rome? What are you, some kind of Islamophobe?
From AP, with thanks to Twostellas:
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Qatar may be best known as the home of Al-Jazeera television, but an Anglican congregation now plans to build the country's first Christian church since Islam's arrival in the seventh century, a step that risks angering local Muslims.Clive Handford, the Nicosia-based Anglican bishop in Cyprus and the Gulf, says construction will start in the Qatari capital of Doha in early 2006 on the $7 million Church of the Epiphany, along with a conference center and meeting rooms....
While some see the construction as a sign of increasing religious diversity throughout the world, Qatar's close-knit Muslim community may become angered if public approval is not sought, said Najeeb al-Nauimi, a prominent lawyer in Doha.
"People will be insulted," al-Nauimi said. "They respect other religions. But to impose this on them is to say that you are no longer a Muslim state. That will hurt."...
Christianity disappeared in most Gulf Arab states within a few centuries after Islam's arrival in the seventh century. But Christian expatriates have migrated to the region over the last hundred years, especially after the discovery of oil.
Tell them how Christianity disappeared, AP. Go on. I dare you. (For those who don't know, see Bat Ye'or's seminal work The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam.)
Qatar now counts some 70,000 Christians, including some 7,000 Anglicans and 50,000 Roman Catholics, largely from the Philippines, according to the World Christian Database. Qatar's Anglican community is its oldest, dating to 1916, the database says....Energy-rich Qatar has had no purpose-built church since pre-Islamic times, when a chain of churches and monasteries stretched along the western shore of the Gulf from the fourth to the seventh century, Handford said.
Many Qataris, who follow a conservative brand of Islam, were "not enthusiastic" about the return of churches to the tiny country, Handford acknowledged.
The congregation will take security precautions and will not be decorated overtly with Christian crosses, he said, although the walkways and grounds will have crosses and flower motifs resembling those used in early Christian churches....
Public display of crosses is forbidden by the classic dhimmi laws, which exert such a continuing cultural influence that crosses on this church in Qatar will not be "overt."
"We've not yet experienced a backlash," Handford said by telephone from London, where he attended a fund-raiser for the Doha church hosted by the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion."I suppose these days there is always a risk, no matter where you are," Handford said. "We're not thinking of putting up razor wire or things like that."
The Anglican archdeacon in Qatar, Ian Young, said the church was one of four planned in the energy-rich Gulf state.
Also in the works are church buildings serving Catholics, Egyptian Coptic Christians and a multidenominational church serving Indian Christians, said Young, a 58-year-old Scot who has served as Doha's chief Anglican priest since 1991....
Al-Nauimi warned that few Qataris would approve of donating public land so expatriate Christians could build a church. Al-Nauimi, who as a child attended a Christian elementary school in Lebanon, said he had heard of no Qatari Christians.
"This is the affair of a foreign community that is here temporarily. Why should they get land for this?" he asked. "I don't know what the reaction will be. There is a risk."
Yes, there is. Baddala deenahu, faqtuhulu and all that, eh, Al-Nauimi?
Posted by Robert at October 22, 2005 5:21 PM
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This is entirely good news. Now Christians will have not only inviolable places in which to store weapons and terrorists as they wage a new crusade against the poor Mulsims, they'll also have an Anglican on hand to wring his hands and weep about it.
Posted by: sonofwalker![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 22, 2005 5:56 PM
Just when I think that the Anglicans' leadership has thrown in the towel, they go and do something to redeem themselves.
Posted by: 3812Michelle at October 22, 2005 6:05 PM
Looks like the Muslims may light up the place. The humiliation of it all. The shame that will be forced upon our beloved Muslims. Perhaps if it is disquised as a Mosque or a camel water station.
Posted by: JanuaryMan at October 22, 2005 6:07 PM
Believe it when you see it! I doubt it will ever happen.
Meanwhile, more depressing stuff:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46970
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46965
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46961
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46973
at October 22, 2005 6:44 PM
I don't want to be the insurance company holding the policy on this building.
Posted by: johnb at October 22, 2005 7:27 PM
So the Christian church can't have any overt Christian symbols - yep Islam is real tolerant.
Pity the same standard isn't applied here in the West to Muslims who are building disgusting 7th Cent. Mosque's everywhere..... they would make great pig farms though!
Posted by: 3rdtimelucky at October 23, 2005 1:16 AM
Correction, Mr. Spencer: it's "Baddala deenahu, faqtuluhu"
Posted by: Jsingleton at October 23, 2005 2:09 AM
"People will be insulted," al-Nauimi said. "They respect other religions. But to impose this on them is to say that you are no longer a Muslim state. That will hurt."...
So I guess the US is no longer a Christian state since we also have been imposed upon by all the mosque building here.
Poor babies.
Islam = Greed, Power, Lust
Christianity = Grace, Forgiveness, Love
at October 23, 2005 3:08 AM
If I had any academic or financial standing, which I don't, I would initiate a film project on a pre-Islamic religious history of Arabia, featuring Jewish, Chrisitian, Zorastian, Mandaean sites(not really any buildings, as the tolerant followers of the religion of peace destroyed them centuries ago). I would have the best non-dhimmi scholars commenting on the significance of these sites and communities, and the history of their destruction, which would highlight an entirely different side of Islam than is currently presented. As to the proposed church in Qatar, I will be very interested in Canterbury's support of this small, yet bold effort in Christian witness. Perhaps Granny W., with her C of E connections, can keep us updated on that aspect of the project. I wish it well; it needs to be done. People living in the West aren't the only ones who need exposure to cultural diversity.
Posted by: maryrose at October 23, 2005 10:43 AM
After a closer reading, it seems that the archbishop of Centerbury was holding a fund-raiser for the project. That's good. I still will be looking for updates on the project, once the howls(and bombs)start coming from the Muslims. Will the C of E insist on fairness from the "Muslim world" or will another apology by given, once demanded.
Posted by: maryrose at October 23, 2005 10:47 AM
Will pay 3 for 1, if the place opens.
Will pay 10 for 1, if someone does not die within one month of the Church opening.
at October 23, 2005 11:54 AM
heik, your first link to WND was about a proposal to ban the Bible at Edinburg Univ in Scotland, it said that it would have to be voted on by the Students and then approved by the Administration. In fact it is a student association that initated the request.
It says nothing at all about permitting other "scriptures" such as the Qur'an. I would get upset if it permitted the Qur'an and banned the Bible, but WND makes no mention.. just excites Christian glands with another story that Christians like to get excited about proving "persecution" and how Muslim like is that? Seems to me Muslims also get off on being persecuted, in fact it is the latest thing, everyone is persecuted, people of color, whites, Jews, Muslims,Christians, men, women, gays, straights.. when will the persecution end.. oh the suffering.
Your last link to another WND (I'm under the impression that WND is merely a rabble rouser, who advances its agenda by playing on and accerbating fears and prejudices, by feeding or distorting info) is to an article about some unknown kook, a black man name of Kamau Kambon who wants to exterminate all whites because in his mind whites want to exterminate blacks.
Fact of the matter is that yes, a lot of whites would like to exterminate blacks,as well as Hispanics and a whole lot of folks would like to exterminate Islam as well (present and accounted for in that regard, exterminate Islam but not Islamics, by debunking and deprogramming all believers).
Posted by: Nariz at October 23, 2005 10:48 PM
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