Friday, October 08, 2010

Religion of Tolerance Alert

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi police raided a secret Catholic mass in Riyadh last week and arrested a dozen Filipinos and a Catholic priest, charging them with prosyletising, a local daily reported on Wednesday.

The raid took place as some 150 Filipinos were attending the mass in a Riyadh rest house on Friday, the second day of the weekend in Saudi Arabia, Arab News said. ...
Saudi Arabia bans the practice of any religion aside from Islam. However, small, low-key prayer services inside expatriate compounds and in Filipino gatherings are tolerated by officials.
There's more here.

1 comment:

Kevin said...

Gil,
I heard about this. It is dreadful and an affront to decency, human rights of the first order and dignity of each soul to seek for truth without coercion.

That said; how do we deal with these governments? The House of Saud has the upper hand. They can fiddle with oil prices and harm us directly and in ways we cannot easily react.

Other than getting us off oil, a thing which even if possible would take years, I don't have an answer that would not be trumped by realpolitik regardless of the flavour of the administration.

Seriously, has anyone a suggestion that might be not only comforting to our conscience but effective?
Ad Astra Per Aspera,
Kevin