Interesting......
Mar. 17th, 2008 10:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
patgundFirst church inaugurated in Qatar (BBC)
"The Christian community in Qatar has opened the first official church in the Gulf state.
St Mary's Roman Catholic church was inaugurated in the capital, Doha.
Tens of thousands of Christians, most of them Catholic, live in the emirate, which has a mainly Sunni Muslim population.
Previously, Christians were not permitted to worship openly. Saudi Arabia is now the only country in the region to prohibit church building."
I would have thought at first that an Anglican church would have been first due to the large number of UK and Commonwealth expats there, but a Catholic one does make since with the very large number of Fillipinos working in Qatar. (Qatar has 900,000 people, only 200,000 of which are Qataris. Of the 700,000 expats in Qatar, 100,000 are Fillipino)
Something the BBC article didn't mention was that the land for the church (and others being built around it - they're big on the cluster approach), was donated by the Emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani. And, while Qatar is quite progressive in many respects, there's enough conservative Wahhabist Sunnis in Qatar to complain - enough that the US and UK embassies felt the need to warn people. And the church (and others being built around it), are 15 minutes into the desert, not in Doha proper. (First Christian Church Opens in Qatar, Thousands of Catholics attend first mass at Qatari church, and First Catholic Church Opens in Qatar, Sparking Fear of Backlash Against Christians)
One side note, the Vatican is in negotiations to open a church in Saudi Arabia
"The Christian community in Qatar has opened the first official church in the Gulf state.
St Mary's Roman Catholic church was inaugurated in the capital, Doha.
Tens of thousands of Christians, most of them Catholic, live in the emirate, which has a mainly Sunni Muslim population.
Previously, Christians were not permitted to worship openly. Saudi Arabia is now the only country in the region to prohibit church building."
I would have thought at first that an Anglican church would have been first due to the large number of UK and Commonwealth expats there, but a Catholic one does make since with the very large number of Fillipinos working in Qatar. (Qatar has 900,000 people, only 200,000 of which are Qataris. Of the 700,000 expats in Qatar, 100,000 are Fillipino)
Something the BBC article didn't mention was that the land for the church (and others being built around it - they're big on the cluster approach), was donated by the Emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani. And, while Qatar is quite progressive in many respects, there's enough conservative Wahhabist Sunnis in Qatar to complain - enough that the US and UK embassies felt the need to warn people. And the church (and others being built around it), are 15 minutes into the desert, not in Doha proper. (First Christian Church Opens in Qatar, Thousands of Catholics attend first mass at Qatari church, and First Catholic Church Opens in Qatar, Sparking Fear of Backlash Against Christians)
One side note, the Vatican is in negotiations to open a church in Saudi Arabia
