Simon D'Silva <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Qatar's first church sparks bitter
debate
Note from NRI-Qatar Goans yahoo group moderator - An article on Qatar Church
field by AFP agency - but the writer has got the church name wrong instead of
St. Mary it should have read as Our Lady of the Rosary church.
Keyword: Qatar-religion-Christianity-church FEATURE
Headline: Qatar's first church sparks bitter debate
by Faisal Baatout
DOHA, Feb 16, 2008 (AFP) - A bitter debate has broken out in the tiny,
oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar over construction of the Muslim country's first
Christian church, set to open next month in time for Easter.
Critics have branded the concept as "repulsive" while supporters said
building places of worship for other religions is a right guaranteed by Islam.
One former minister insisted there should have been a public referendum.
"The cross should not be raised in the sky of Qatar, nor should bells toll in
Doha," wrote columnist Lahdan bin Issa al-Muhanadi in the Doha daily
Al-Arabadding an apology in case the concept upset any readers in this country
of 900,000, of whom only 200,000 are native Qataris.
But the former dean of the sharia (Islamic law) school at Qatar University,
Abdul Hamid al-Ansari, disagreed, saying having "places of worship for various
religions is a fundamental human right guaranteed by Islam."
Ansari has written several newspaper articles welcoming the Roman Catholic
church in Doha, which is called St. Mary's and will be inaugurated on March 15
by Vatican envoy Cardinal Ivan Dias.
Four other Christian denominations are also planning to build churches in
Qatar, whose ruling family and most of its small native population adhere to a
strict rigorous doctrine of Islam known as Wahhabism.
Once St. Mary's opens, neighbour Saudi Arabia, which also practises
Wahhabism, will be the only Arab nation in the Gulf that bans churches.
Gas-wealthy Qatar has opened up since current ruler and staunch US ally
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani seized control and ousted his father in a
1995 palace coup.
Qatar's leaders have even hosted Jewish rabbis and Christian clerics
alongside Muslim religious scholars at annual inter-faith forums.
But Ansari sees the old influence in the current opposition. He attributes it
to "a fanatic culture resulting from religious teaching (stipulating) hatred
for the other and from social norms that denied non-Muslims their rights on the
basis of old political and security considerations that have become obsolete."
St. Mary's parish priest, Father Tomasito Veneracion, a Filipino, stressed in
comments to the daily Al-Raya that the church would be "merely a place for
collective prayer." It would not have crosses outside the building or serve as
a platform for proselytising.
It would finally provide a place of worship for those who up to now were
forced to practise religious rituals at home, he added. And it would be open in
time for the solemn Easter holyday, which this year falls on March 23.
For other Christians, construction of an Anglican church will begin in May,
according to Qatar's Anglican priest Canon William Schwarz. Building has
already begun on a Greek Orthodox church and another for Copts.
The Vatican website estimates about 100,000 Qatar residents are Christian.
Most are Indians, Filipinos, Lebanese and Western nationals who, despite
praying in private, have celebrated Christmas publicly for about a decade.
The debate meanwhile has spilled into the letters pages of Doha's dailies.
Engineer Rashed al-Subaie, in a letter to Al-Watan, agreed Christians should
be allowed to practise their faith but should do so "in line with public morals
without being given licences to set up places of worship."
Christians should "worship their God in their homes," not publicly, he wrote.
Lawyer and former justice minister Najib al-Nuaimi also objected to building
churches in Qatar on "legal and social" grounds.
"Qatar is a Muslimnot secularstate, as per its constitution. There should
have been a referendum on the building of these churches in order to ensure
they are socially accepted," he told AFP.
But Ansari hit back at those citing Islamic texts to justify their rejection,
notably Muhanadi who has quoted the Prophet Mohammed saying "no two religions
will come together in the Arabian peninsula."
"This does not mean that churches should be banned in Qatar because (Islamic)
religious scholars believe it applies to Hijazspecifically Mecca and Medina,"
Islam's two holiest cities in Saudi Arabia, Ansari said.
"Let's all welcome the presence of churches in Qatar... as a demonstration of
Islamic tolerance and human brotherhood," he said.
AFP
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