Christian Council condemns Saudi Grand Mufti Call For Destruction Of Churches In West Asia

[Dr. John Dayal]

ALL INDIA CHRISTIAN COUNCIL

Press statement
New Delhi, March 29, 2012

Christian Council condemns Saudi Grand Mufti Call For Destruction Of
Churches In West Asia

The All India Christian Council has condemned the call by Saudi
Arabia’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah that it is
“necessary to destroy all the churches of the region.”

Christian Council President Dr Joseph D’ Souza, said the Mufti’s
controversial statement placed Christian churches throughout the
Arabian peninsula in jeopardy and could have repercussions for
religious minorities in other countries.

Council secretary General Dr John Dayal called upon the government of
India and other civilised countries to use their good offices to
ensure that the nations in the Arabian peninsula rebuffed the Wahabi
Imam’s bigoted statement, and assured the safety and security of
churches in the Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and the United
Arab Emirates. Christianity is already forbidden in Saudi Arabia which
has no churches.
West Asian media had reported the controversial statement in the
context of another statement by a Kuwaiti member of parliament who
reportedly called for the ‘removal’ of churches in his country.
Legislation was also recently introduced in Kuwait’s parliament that
would mandate the removal of Christian churches from the country and
impose strict Shariah laws. Kuwait has later clarified the
legislation would not remove the churches, but prohibit further
construction of Christian churches and non-Muslim places of worship in
the country. The Saudi Grand Mufti emphasized that because Kuwait is
part of the Arabian Peninsula, it would be necessary to destroy all
churches in the country. There are a large number of Christians living
in Saudi Arabia and the other countries of the Arabian gulf, many of
them from India and the Philippines, with their population estimated
at over 3.5 million, over 800,000 of them in Saudi Arabia alone.

The All India Christian Council has been following developments in the
region with growing alarm and concern as Christians continue to be
coerced and harassed at various times. It is particularly disturbing
because India has a large number of its citizens, mostly labour but
also businessmen, engineers and medical personnel, in the region. A
large number of migrant from the states of South India are
Christians.

The All India Christian Council said the Mufti’s statement flew in
the face of the United Nations Charter and the UN Declaration On The
Elimination Of All Forms Of Intolerance And Of Discrimination Based On
Religion Or Belief.

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