Advice to a Middle East King on a Dialog of Cultures and Faiths………….
“Saudi King Abdullah said there are efforts to establish an international center for dialog with representatives from all major religions, and that it would be independent from all political interference. He added that Saudi Arabia continues its policy of spreading the culture of dialog………..”
I believe the king’s advisers and retainers are misleading him. Or maybe they are afraid to tell him the truth: in Europe and much of the ROW, religion is separated from the state and is quite irrelevant to culture in many ways. Religion has impacted culture historically in some ways (art, architecture, literature, etc), but not much beyond that. A dialog with French Catholic priests and Norwegian Protestant clergy is NOT a dialog with Europe. It is only a dialog with the individuals concerned and their institutions. A dialog with the Catholic priests in Rio is not a dialog with Brazilians whose culture, and religion, is much more complex than that. Priests and clergy in the West do not claim that they speak for the culture of the West. Clergy in the Middle East also should not claim to speak for people of the Middle East, for example, because they do not. Nor should kings or mullahs.
The best way to have a dialog of cultures is to allow complete cultural freedom and freedom of expression (including the freedom of religion). These are freedoms that the country of the king will not allow. But that is okay, almost all world leaders talk big about these large issues.
Cheers
mhg
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