From Will at The Other News:
The Saudi Arabian government and wealthy Saudi individuals want to build mosques in Norway for tens of millions. They are legally entitled to do so, according to Norwegian law for financially supporting religious communities, but the large sum means that the government will have to approve the financial support.
The foreign office is not only refusing to approve the funding. In a response to the Tawfiiq Islamic Center, the ministry wrote that it would be 'a paradox and unnatural to approve funding from sources in a country which is not open to religious freedom.
"The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre told VG:
"We could have just said no, in principal the ministry doesn't approve such things. But when we were first asked, we used the opportunity to add that an approval would be paradoxical as long as it's a crime to establish a Christian community in Saudi Arabia."
State Secretary Espen Barth Eide is visiting Saudi-Arabia today and will take up the issue."I see that many of my European colleagues have the same problem, and Norway will take up the issue in the Council of Europe," says Støre.
Read the full story here.
5 comments:
Pastorius,
Pretty much until the Saudis do allow people of other faiths to practice freely in their kingdom, (something that I doubt will happen in my life time), whenever they demand that we tolerate them, we should just ignore there demands. Its not about tolerance for them. If it was about tolerance for them, they would be more tolerant of other points of veiw, including other relious points of view themselves.
===" Norway: No Saudi mosques, as long as there's no freedom of religion in Saudi-Arabia "===
O.K. Pasto,
I know that you were laughing while posting this ! You don't believe a single word in it, and so does Mr. Will who tipped you on this!...
Feathers will grow on my teeth and the Jordan River will flow backwards long before freedom of religion enters Barbaria !
Church or Synagogue in Mecca !... Ha !!! The Mosque in Oslo will be ready for the next "Jummah Prayer " !
Alex.
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( You must give me the name of the mushrooms you had in your omelet for breakfast !... ).
.
Great move by Norway! Saudis fund hundreds of mosques around the world yet all other religions are illegal in S.A. and non-Muslims can't even enter Mecca or Medina. Can you imagine prohibiting entry to a U.S. city based solely on religion?! Our western freedoms and values are being cynically manipulated.
Carl,
I couldn't agree more.
I have a hard time believing this will be carried out.
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