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PARIS (Reuters) - Christian bishops in Germany, Austria and Russia have sharply criticised Saudi Arabia's top religious official after reports that he issued a fatwa saying all churches on the Arabian Peninsula should be destroyed.

In separate statements on Friday, the Roman Catholic bishops in Germany and Austria slammed the ruling by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Shaikh as an unacceptable denial of human rights to millions of foreign workers in the Gulf region.

Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, head of the Russian Orthodox department for churches abroad, called the fatwa "alarming" in a statement on Tuesday. Such blunt criticism from mainstream Christian leaders of their Muslim counterparts is very rare.

Christian websites have reported Sheikh Abdulaziz, one of the most influential religious leaders in the Muslim world, issued the fatwa last week in response to a Kuwaiti lawmaker who asked if Kuwait could ban church construction in Kuwait.

Citing Arab-language media reports, they say the sheikh ruled that further church building should be banned and existing Christian houses of worship should be destroyed.

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, chairman of the German Bishops Conference, said the mufti "shows no respect for the religious freedom and free co-existence of religions", especially all the foreign labourers who made its economy work.

"It would be a slap in the face to these people if the few churches available to them were to be taken away," he said.

SHEIKH VS KING?

At least 3.5 million Christians live in the Gulf Arab region. They are mostly Catholic workers from India and the Philippines, but also Western expatriates of all denominations.

Saudi Arabia bans all non-Muslim houses of prayer, forcing Christians there to risk arrest by praying in private homes. There are churches for Christian minorities in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Yemen.

The bishops conference in Austria, where Saudi King Abdullah plans to open a controversial centre for interfaith dialogue, demanded an official explanation from Riyadh.

"How could the grand mufti issue a fatwa of such importance behind the back of his king?" they asked. "We see a contradiction between the dialogue being practiced, the efforts of the king and those of his top mufti."

In Moscow, Archbishop Mark told the Interfax news agency he hoped that Saudi Arabia's neighbours "will be surprised by the calls made by this sheikh and ignore them".

The Catholic Church has urged Muslim states in recent years to give Christian minorities in their countries the same freedom of religion that Muslims enjoy in Western countries.

There are few Orthodox Christians in the Gulf region, but the Moscow Patriarchate - which was mostly silent during the decades of Soviet communism that ended in 1991 - has become increasingly vocal in defending the rights of Christians around the world.

Bishop Paul Hinder, who oversees Catholic churches in the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yeman, told Catholic news agency KNA that the fatwa had not been widely publicised in Saudi Arabia. "What is worrying is that such statements have influence in part of the population," he said.

Source

@OP; Hey mehn. Howdey?
I think The Land of the last prophet [as] should not contain anything except the houses of what he preached.
The land of Muhammad is itself Makka, Madina, Taif, etc what people call Saudi Arabia, today.
If idolatry is not allowed there, no other non Islamic religion should be, otherwise what will make his mission as the last mission of prophet-hood be not just like those of previous prophets [as] sent to just a group of people, instead of all the people of the world including all places and locations?

Whatever the messenger [as] allowed no one should change it. So outside the Land of Muhammad [as], you can't ban judaism, christianity buildings even though you may not like it.

And any muslim would say we are serving the same God?

what a load of crap, religion of peace my foot

anyway, the guy who issued the rubbish should be examined for mental disorder.

^^^^^^^^^^ i do not believe muslims serve the exact same God as the christians.
Muslim God is Uniquely One. Christian God is uniquely 3 unless the christians are incorrect. the jewish God is uniquely nationalistic and not God of all.

i do not believe muslims serve the exact same God as the christians.
Muslim God is Uniquely One. Christian God is uniquely 3 unless the christians are incorrect. the jewish God is uniquely nationalistic and not God of all.

so this is the basis for the barbaric utterance of that guy? ignorance gone on rampage

please people,do not be too simplistic in your judgement.we are talking here of saudi arabia and its mufti,who insulted the Prophet (sa) by referring to his righteous and beloved grandson (Imam Hussain) who is purified and chosen by Allah as "misguided".when you are talking of saudi arabia,you are talking of wahhabism and its extremism and not Islam.recently,mosques in Shia dominated areas in saudi arabia were also destroyed.this same wahhabism is promoting violence in syria,a tolerant state where all religions live peacefully and co-exist.intolerance,extremism and terror are not preached in islam at all.

let not anyone get me wrong here.i am Muslim to the bone and i wish christians would wake up and see the truth.i do oppose christians spreading their menace of preaching in concerted effort and planned attempts to brainwash especially the unsuspecting muslims and uninformed.however,there is no harm in allowing christians especially minorities or foreigners to practice what they believe freely.let us remember that our Prophet,Muhammad (sa) allowed the christians of najran who visited him to pray in the second most holiest place of Islam,Medinah.he didn't obstruct them or the free will God have given humans to choose what to believe.

all aside,i do not as a muslim think saudi arabia (all of it) is holy or saudis are "holy people".far from it! what is holy to us Muslims are specific places,particular Makkah and Medinah.those places should be preserved exclusively for Muslims and islam as the vatican is for catholicism and you can't have a mosque there.the decision of limiting freedom of religion is political and not religious because in the Quran we are told "let him who will believe and he who wills disbelieve".there is no compulsion in religion (verse 2:256).

@ last poster. The vatican is for catholicism not becos they are repulsive to other faith but becos:
1. There is no land for other buildings which is not the case with stadium arabia oh sorry saudi arabia.
2. The whole of the vatican is church while the same thing cannot said of stadium arabia. Oh sorry for that mistake. Its just like other people coming to build some other buildings in a mosque compound.
3. The holy see and christianity are inseparable which is not the case with islam and saudi. It is becos christianity exists that the holy see exists. Note that i didnt say vatican instead i said holy see. But the same thing cannot be said of islam and meccah

Everywhere you find them, you find death and destruction. From Pakistan to Nigeria to Afghanistan to Somalia. These blood-thirsty people.

laughing at religious people fighting for their hiding gods

lol, lagoshia is pissed because one group of brainwashing men(christians) brainwash more than his group(muslims) and now he is accussing them of not playing fair by saying they shouldn't go around preaching to(brainwashing) people. Muslims and christians in the 'my god has a bigger pheenis than your god' debate.

If a head of a household thinks inviting a foreign faith into his home will destroy his existing faith structure, he will dare not take such steps.

Response of most Nairalander when it comes to religion issue are most disturbing.
Let's be frank with ourself, i know of religious family that will go to any length to terminate the love relationship among their wards, human right was not abuse here?

When the muslim proposed to erect Islamic centers at ground Zero, there was a protest then, human right was not abuse then?
I know of an estate where mosque is not allowed, yet you see churches springing up every corner of the estate, where is human right?

If the owner of an estate can authoritatively ban the errection of a mosque, he surely have his reasons, and this is a clear message from him tha we don't serve the same God

Also, if a state condemned the errection of building that will eventually affect the reasoning and psychology of his citizen in future, faiths that teaches God is not one but three in one, Jesus is the GOD or son of God, Innocent children are wrongfully accused of witchcraft, while such spirit can't pin point armed robbers, ritualist, drug barons etc, faith that allow freedom of expression and act, introducing beauty pargent concert, jeans carnivals in churches, etc and at the end will distort their moral and social delicacy under the umbrella of freedom of religion, just as we have in our midst today, the western world religion

If you're in Rome, behave like Romans, if I found myself in Rome, why would I complain there is no mosque there, I believe my God is every where, I can perform my prayer in my room without wahala. What am I doing in Room anyway,

Nigerians are funny, they will temporary be a Muslim when it comes to money, there are records of Christians going to saudi arabia during the hajj, because of trade, don't they know there are no churches there.

Why go to places where your faith is not recognized. Put your house in order.