Saudi king to hold interfaith conference on moralityPDFPrintE-mail
World
Written by Chris Perver  
Tuesday, 25 March 2008 09:09

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has announced that he is planning to hold an interfaith gathering, aimed at preventing the "decay of morality and family values" in society. The revelation comes just weeks after the Vatican announced similar plans for a Catholic-Islamic summit, which would aim to increase dialogue and co-operation between the two monotheistic religions. The Saudi proposal will include representatives of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all of which lay claim to a common heritage in the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments. 

Quote: "Saudi clerics, revealed the king, were also enthusiastic regarding this interfaith conference. "With Allah's aid, we will meet our brethren of the Torah and the New Testament. Together we will prevent the decay of morality and family values in our society, and replace the contempt and hurtfulness omnipresent in our world with genuine human fealty."

In May 2005, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was on an official visit to the United States to extend the hand of peace, and convey the message that "tolerance must extend to those of all faiths and practices". But to citizens of his own country, the king was conveying an entirely different message. Just a few days before King Abdullah met with US President Bush at his ranch in 2005, two Christian gatherings in the Saudi capital of Riyadh were raided by the religious police. Around eighty Christians had been arrested, and their Bibles and literature confiscated for the crime of "trying to spread their poisonous religious beliefs to others through the distribution of books and pamphlets". In Saudi Arabia, you can be arrested, deported, publicly flogged and even be killed for the crime of possessing a Bible. Most foreigners found in possession of Bibles are arrested and deported. Some have been flogged. But no such luck for Muslims living in kingdom. In September 1993, Sadeq Mallallah was beheaded in Qateef on a charge of apostasy for owning a Bible. And the British government, for the sake of its close political ties with the Islamic state, enforces these unjust laws on its own citizens seeking to travel to Saudi Arabia. If you want to see tolerance in action, it seems you won't find it in Saudi Arabia. 

So why on earth is the Pope holding interfaith dialogue with the Muslims? Why is Tony Blair so concerned about bridging the divisions between Islam, Christianity and Judaism? Why is Abdullah speaking of tolerance for other faiths while persecuting believers in his own country? Why is religious 'fundamentalism', according to the Pope, Javier Solana, Tony Blair, and even some Christians, going to be the war of the 21st Century? Religious fundamentalism, the belief that truth is absolute, is one of the main obstacles in uniting this planet under a one world government system. Under the ecumenical and interfaith movements, no religion will be able to claim they have the 'absolute truth'. All religions, it will be declared, 'contain truth' and are equally valid. In other words there is good in all religions, and even though you may disagree about which one is the best, you cannot say your brother who follows Allah or Buddha is going to hell. And that is the message that is being propagated today, in our schools, by our media and now by our governments. As Christians we are not to criticize other people's religions, but we should tell them the truth. The Bible says there is only one way to get to heaven, and that is through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me", John 14:6. Praise God that despite man's best attempts to destroy God's Word, the Lord has promised that heaven and earth might pass away, but His words will never pass away (Luke 21:33). Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation today.

Source YNet News, NY Sun, Telegraph

Share