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Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington
If I moved to the middle east what do you think my chances would be of attending a Christian Church.......? Pretty slim I think.
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I was in Saudi Arabia in 1983/84. My husband was working for a Lebanese company and most of the Lebanese were Christians, mostly Roman Catholics. They had a priest but he had to practice his ministry "underground", his day-job was as an engineer. They held mass in each other's homes every Sunday and it all had to be very hush-hush because, had they been found out, at the very least they would have been expelled from the country. Over Christmas all the stores sold cards, trees, decorations etc. but the cards could only say "Happy Holiday" as mention of Christianity, as in Christmas, was forbidden.
I would never advocate that this country went to such extremes but it goes to show the difference in tolerance between a Christian country and an Islamic one. I am not anti-Islam. I respect a person's right to hold whatever belief he choses but, I must be honest, the modern interpretation of that particular Faith disturbs me. When it becomes, as it seems to have, the cause célebre behind acts of terrorism it is time to rethink the our famed tolerance and to begin to weed out those who espouse antipathy to any who do not follow their ideals.