Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti wants churches destroyed – it’s time for the West to rethink relations

Aug 23, 2016 by

by Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith, Catholic Herald:

This story, reported by an Israeli source, about the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia calling for the demolition of all churches in the Arabian peninsula, may at first sight seem like an old story. In fact it is not, it is merely that the Mufti has said exactly the same thing before now; presumably he has had to repeat himself as people were not paying attention the first time.

There are several very interesting things that one should bear in mind when considering the Grand Mufti’s latest pronouncement. Here are just a few of them.

This is the Grand Mufti talking. It is not some bearded loon, or some fringe extremist, but rather the chief religious authority of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, home to the two holy mosques and so on. So this man speaks with authority. It is as if the Archbishop of Canterbury had spoken.

The Grand Mufti is appointed by the Saudi government. The Saudis are allies of us Brits and the Americans.

Search however hard, you will never ever find any pronouncement by any Catholic prelate calling for the destruction of mosques anywhere in the world. Rather the Church’s approach is laid down in the Vatican II document Nostra Aetate, which has only nice things to say about Muslims. But imagine for a moment if a Catholic prelate were to call for the destruction of mosques, or indeed any restriction on Muslim worship. This would be an unwarranted interference in freedom of religion and would evoke a storm of protest.

Read here

 

Related Posts

Tags

Share This