Does Saudi Arabia Permit Churches and Synogogues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: You should first figure out that Dubai is not in Saudi Arabia.

Of course I know Dubai is not in SA! (Good attempt at a putdown, but fail) That's why I asked about Dubai, in addition to my question about SA.

FWIW, I've also heard Dubai is also unwelcoming to Jews, and it was a related thought. I'm trying to identify which Arab countries welcome Jews, and I heard that the United Arab Emirates was pretty bad too.

Dubai is very different. The government there gives land to churches and will fund their construction. Christmas is widely celebrated and there is a huge amount of tolerance and encouragement. I don’t think there is currently an active synagogue there though there was one in the early 00s. That was government funded too.

OP here. You seem knowledgeable this, so may I ask....I have heard a rumor that American Jews cannot visit Dubai if they have visited Israel in the past (as would show by their passport). Do you know if that is true?

That’s not true at all. Unless it’s changed in the past year or two. When I lived there only two countries of the GCC denied entry on the basis of having and Israeli entry stamp - KSA and Kuwait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course SA is oppressive & has terrible human rights. They just earlier this year decided to let women drive cars. And that was a big deal. Women, in particular, have virtually no rights or independence in SA.

Then why is Israel the country always criticized for human rights violations? Seems like the Arab countries are worse. From what I've seen, Muslims living in Israel (except the occupied territories) are treated very well. I was there on a Friday, and it was wonderful to see the Muslims worshipping in Old Jerusalem, and then the Jews come out on Friday night to start their day of worship - right in the same place. All peaceful and respectful.

One can criticize multiple countries (Israel, SA, or Dubai) at a time for human rights violations. I don’t understand your point. They all have violations to varying degrees. As an atheist woman, you couldn’t pay me to live in any of them.

[Anonymous]

You guys all know that the abbreviation for Saudi is KSA, right?

SA is South Africa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course SA is oppressive & has terrible human rights. They just earlier this year decided to let women drive cars. And that was a big deal. Women, in particular, have virtually no rights or independence in SA.

I'm guessing OP cares a lot less about women than he does about Christians.

Big fail. I'm a woman and care that all religions have access to free worship. Christians too (although I'm Jewish).

Figured you were Jewish, OP, and wanted to start something where you could accuse posters of anti-semitism. Kudos to you for not taking the cheap shot.

Qatar is a mess right now, but the King was smart enough to create zones where other religions and -- more importantly -- drinking alcohol is done.

Overall, Middle Eastern countries have rid themselves of Jews, Coptic Christians, Greek Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, Zoroastarians, Bahai, and any non-Muslim religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course SA is oppressive & has terrible human rights. They just earlier this year decided to let women drive cars. And that was a big deal. Women, in particular, have virtually no rights or independence in SA.

Then why is Israel the country always criticized for human rights violations? Seems like the Arab countries are worse. From what I've seen, Muslims living in Israel (except the occupied territories) are treated very well. I was there on a Friday, and it was wonderful to see the Muslims worshipping in Old Jerusalem, and then the Jews come out on Friday night to start their day of worship - right in the same place. All peaceful and respectful.

Look at how Israel treats Palestinians. From the warehousing in ghettos to the outright theft of land with the settlements to the sponsored slaughters in the Lebanese refugee camps. Israel, despite its modern genesis, is abysmal when it comes to their treatment of others (the infidel).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course SA is oppressive & has terrible human rights. They just earlier this year decided to let women drive cars. And that was a big deal. Women, in particular, have virtually no rights or independence in SA.

Then why is Israel the country always criticized for human rights violations? Seems like the Arab countries are worse. From what I've seen, Muslims living in Israel (except the occupied territories) are treated very well. I was there on a Friday, and it was wonderful to see the Muslims worshipping in Old Jerusalem, and then the Jews come out on Friday night to start their day of worship - right in the same place. All peaceful and respectful.

Look at how Israel treats Palestinians. From the warehousing in ghettos to the outright theft of land with the settlements to the sponsored slaughters in the Lebanese refugee camps. Israel, despite its modern genesis, is abysmal when it comes to their treatment of others (the infidel).

No Israelis took part in the slaughter at Sabra and Shatila. Get your facts straight, idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course SA is oppressive & has terrible human rights. They just earlier this year decided to let women drive cars. And that was a big deal. Women, in particular, have virtually no rights or independence in SA.

Then why is Israel the country always criticized for human rights violations? Seems like the Arab countries are worse. From what I've seen, Muslims living in Israel (except the occupied territories) are treated very well. I was there on a Friday, and it was wonderful to see the Muslims worshipping in Old Jerusalem, and then the Jews come out on Friday night to start their day of worship - right in the same place. All peaceful and respectful.

Look at how Israel treats Palestinians. From the warehousing in ghettos to the outright theft of land with the settlements to the sponsored slaughters in the Lebanese refugee camps. Israel, despite its modern genesis, is abysmal when it comes to their treatment of others (the infidel).

No Israelis took part in the slaughter at Sabra and Shatila. Get your facts straight, idiot.

The Israelis, though, forced them into those camps and then, when it became apparent that the slaughter was imminent surrounded the camps and wouldn’t allow people to flee.

That too is a fact.

[Anonymous]

“In 1983, a commission chaired by Seán MacBride, the assistant to the UN Secretary General and President of United Nations General Assembly at the time, concluded that Israel, as the camp's occupying power, bore responsibility for the violence.[19] The commission also concluded that the massacre was a form of genocide.[20]

In 1983, the Israeli Kahan Commission, appointed to investigate the incident, found that Israeli military personnel, aware that a massacre was in progress, had failed to take serious steps to stop it. The commission deemed Israel indirectly responsible, and Ariel Sharon, then Defense Minister, bore personal responsibility "for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge", forcing him to resign.[21]”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre

Idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pardon my ignorance, but is it true that Saudi Arabia only permits mosques and forbids churches and synogogues? (Not sure whether to trust the article linked.) If true, why isn't the Muslim-run government being criticized for an obvious human rights violation? (Seems to me that Israel is picked on when other countries are so much worse.) Saudi Arabia, along with Quatar and some other Arab countries, treat Jews in particular with disdain, and they frequently yell anti-Semitic slurs (not against Israell per se, but Jews in general).

Also, I am not criticizing Muslims themselves, just the Muslim governments.

http://stevepieczenik.com/tolerance-no-churches-in-saudi-arabia/

This is a conservative concern troll post. One country is ruled by a theocratic king while the other is a democracy. Let the Saudis overthrow the evil house that rules them first, then we may see the true will of the people. I consider both countries to pretty terrible since this is your whataboutism. This doesn't really affect most American citizens, aside from the shady dealings our government has with both of these countries. Mysteriously there was very little coverage on the bombings in Yemen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: You should first figure out that Dubai is not in Saudi Arabia.

Of course I know Dubai is not in SA! (Good attempt at a putdown, but fail) That's why I asked about Dubai, in addition to my question about SA.

FWIW, I've also heard Dubai is also unwelcoming to Jews, and it was a related thought. I'm trying to identify which Arab countries welcome Jews, and I heard that the United Arab Emirates was pretty bad too.

Dubai is very different. The government there gives land to churches and will fund their construction. Christmas is widely celebrated and there is a huge amount of tolerance and encouragement. I don’t think there is currently an active synagogue there though there was one in the early 00s. That was government funded too.

OP here. You seem knowledgeable this, so may I ask....I have heard a rumor that American Jews cannot visit Dubai if they have visited Israel in the past (as would show by their passport). Do you know if that is true?

That’s not true at all. Unless it’s changed in the past year or two. When I lived there only two countries of the GCC denied entry on the basis of having and Israeli entry stamp - KSA and Kuwait.

OP here. That's good to know. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pardon my ignorance, but is it true that Saudi Arabia only permits mosques and forbids churches and synogogues? (Not sure whether to trust the article linked.) If true, why isn't the Muslim-run government being criticized for an obvious human rights violation? (Seems to me that Israel is picked on when other countries are so much worse.) Saudi Arabia, along with Quatar and some other Arab countries, treat Jews in particular with disdain, and they frequently yell anti-Semitic slurs (not against Israell per se, but Jews in general).

Also, I am not criticizing Muslims themselves, just the Muslim governments.

http://stevepieczenik.com/tolerance-no-churches-in-saudi-arabia/

This is a conservative concern troll post. One country is ruled by a theocratic king while the other is a democracy. Let the Saudis overthrow the evil house that rules them first, then we may see the true will of the people. I consider both countries to pretty terrible since this is your whataboutism. This doesn't really affect most American citizens, aside from the shady dealings our government has with both of these countries. Mysteriously there was very little coverage on the bombings in Yemen.

This doesn't make sense. Are you saying that if someone starts a thread critical of or questioning (some) oppressive Muslim- run governments, he or she is a conservative and a troll? We have threads critical of Israel, a Jewish-run government. Are those automatically from a liberal - and a troll?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course SA is oppressive & has terrible human rights. They just earlier this year decided to let women drive cars. And that was a big deal. Women, in particular, have virtually no rights or independence in SA.

Then why is Israel the country always criticized for human rights violations? Seems like the Arab countries are worse. From what I've seen, Muslims living in Israel (except the occupied territories) are treated very well. I was there on a Friday, and it was wonderful to see the Muslims worshipping in Old Jerusalem, and then the Jews come out on Friday night to start their day of worship - right in the same place. All peaceful and respectful.

Look at how Israel treats Palestinians. From the warehousing in ghettos to the outright theft of land with the settlements to the sponsored slaughters in the Lebanese refugee camps. Israel, despite its modern genesis, is abysmal when it comes to their treatment of others (the infidel).

This thread is about how dismally Arab countries treat Jews. You have plenty of other opportunities to criticize Israel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course SA is oppressive & has terrible human rights. They just earlier this year decided to let women drive cars. And that was a big deal. Women, in particular, have virtually no rights or independence in SA.

Then why is Israel the country always criticized for human rights violations? Seems like the Arab countries are worse. From what I've seen, Muslims living in Israel (except the occupied territories) are treated very well. I was there on a Friday, and it was wonderful to see the Muslims worshipping in Old Jerusalem, and then the Jews come out on Friday night to start their day of worship - right in the same place. All peaceful and respectful.

Look at how Israel treats Palestinians. From the warehousing in ghettos to the outright theft of land with the settlements to the sponsored slaughters in the Lebanese refugee camps. Israel, despite its modern genesis, is abysmal when it comes to their treatment of others (the infidel).

This thread is about how dismally Arab countries treat Jews. You have plenty of other opportunities to criticize Israel.

The question was why is Israel criticized for their human rights record.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course SA is oppressive & has terrible human rights. They just earlier this year decided to let women drive cars. And that was a big deal. Women, in particular, have virtually no rights or independence in SA.

Then why is Israel the country always criticized for human rights violations? Seems like the Arab countries are worse. From what I've seen, Muslims living in Israel (except the occupied territories) are treated very well. I was there on a Friday, and it was wonderful to see the Muslims worshipping in Old Jerusalem, and then the Jews come out on Friday night to start their day of worship - right in the same place. All peaceful and respectful.

Look at how Israel treats Palestinians. From the warehousing in ghettos to the outright theft of land with the settlements to the sponsored slaughters in the Lebanese refugee camps. Israel, despite its modern genesis, is abysmal when it comes to their treatment of others (the infidel).

This thread is about how dismally Arab countries treat Jews. You have plenty of other opportunities to criticize Israel.

The question was why is Israel criticized for their human rights record.

Not sure what you're getting at, but Israel was called out by the U.N. As the WORST violator of human rights - which is questionable. The U.N. is weighted pro-Arab, so you need to take it with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:christians are allowed to practice those religions inside the privacy of their own homes in the Kingdom.

Proselytizing by christians is strictly forbidden anywhere in the Kingdom. Penalties can be severe.

Too bad we can't do that here. It would make this a better, less judgemental country.