And yes, the Christians in the Middle East (especially Cairo and Beirut) are furious, but have they gone out on a rampage burning down mosques and killing Muslims? No, at least not yet. Had this been the Catholic Pope calling on the destruction of all mosques in the West, the Middle East would have been on fire, and the Pope would have a fatwa on his head.
But non-Muslims are a far more tolerant, civilized lot, and one Christian man in Beirut had this to say:
“I mean from a regular, end of the street mosque, this stuff happens all the time, but for the Grand Mufti of a country to say it is simply shocking.”Because Islam is so tolerant, Abdullah believes (as do many Muslims) that their religion is the only one that should be allowed in the Arabian Peninsula, and he even encouraged Kuwaiti delegates (while speaking in that tiny country) to destroy all their churches, too.
Not all Muslims share those sentiments:
According to religious scholars, however, even during the Prophet Mohamed’s time, Christians and Jews were allowed to practice their faith openly and freely. Christians in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan largely have open access to churches and places to pray, although regulations in Egypt have been condemned by Christian leaders and activists.
“What we see with this is the turn toward ultra conservatism in the region,” said Egyptian Coptic Christian Noha, adding that “what we need to do now is bring together people and show this mufti that us Christians and Muslims can live and share the same street. And that it is a right granted by Islam for others to pray in their own place.”
Initially, Kuwaiti MP Osama al-Munawer had wanted to do the same thing with the churches in his country. Heck, he even announced those plans on Twitter, no less. But then changed his mind and said only new non-Islamic buildings of worship would be banned, the churches could stay.
I wonder if we should do the same thing in the West- ban all new construction of mosques.
So much for religious tolerance.
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