A few days ago on November the 6th, "the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah paid a visit to the Custodian of the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI". According the writer of article published in the Kuwait Times: "this is a momentous occasion for anyone who knows the views the Saudis hold of non-Muslims."
Related Link: A Saudi in the Vatican
The visit by King Abdullah to meet with the Pope is a brilliant move in the direction of reform. The fact that he went to meet with the Pope also means that the Saudi Government respects Christianity and its leaders. It means that, whatever conservative clerics say in criticism of Christianity or other faiths, the Saudi Government no longer cares about their continuous approval of its foreign policy. Saudi Arabia is finally shedding its skin as a conservative stronghold and is moving towards modernization of its civil liberties, for Saudi Muslims and for its non-Muslim expatriates, who are estimated to be 1.5 million and still not permitted to practice Christianity in public (On the other hand, Kuwait's Christian population is estimated to be over 160,000, and we have about ten churches here).With the recent letter to Christendom from Islamic scholars, interesting times are afoot.
Related Link: A Saudi in the Vatican
Yes indeedy. The Regensburg address earlier this year is now being seen in a new light I suspect.
ReplyDeleteIs Islam experiencing the first signs of some kind of "reformation"?
Actually Lucyna, not everyone thinks the recent letter by the 138 is necessarily a good thing. Goerge Weigel has this to say:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.catholicexchange.com/node/67164
He has some good points?
Mr Tips,
ReplyDeleteGeorge Weigel made a number of good points. The following critique of the letter also makes some interesting points. In particular:
It is most interesting to note that the vocabulary used is a Christian vocabulary and not a Muslim one.
What all this means at this point, I don't know. However, in light of what has been happening in Soufaneih (Damascus, Syria), it may be something very different from what has occurred before.
Here's a link to Soufaneih.
ReplyDelete