12-15-2005, 01:21 AM
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Kuwait MP slams government for allowing new churches
KUWAIT CITY: A Kuwaiti Islamist lawmaker on Wednesday slammed the government for providing Christians with two plots of land to build churches, saying this was against Islamic law. âThe recent measure of allowing non-Muslims to build places of worship in Kuwait is illegal under Islamic law,â Waleed al-Tabtabai said in a statement after the government provided the land. Tabtabai, a member of the hardline Sunni Salafist group, said non-Muslims must be allowed to practice their religious rituals but without the need to establish places of worship. He said Kuwait at present has about 20 churches and the number of Kuwaiti Christians is less than 100, âwhich means there is a church for every five Kuwaiti Christians.â Church sources told AFP on Wednesday that the Gulf Arab state has eight churches, four of which have their own permanent buildings and the rest are in rented homes. According to the sources, there are between 150 and 200 Kuwaiti Christians and up to 350,000 foreign Christians mostly from India, the Philippines, Egypt, Lebanon and the West. The government has recently allotted Christians two large pieces of state land to build churches, a measure that was welcomed by the head of parliamentâs human rights committee, MP Ali al-Rashed. afp
Kuwait MP slams government for allowing new churches
KUWAIT CITY: A Kuwaiti Islamist lawmaker on Wednesday slammed the government for providing Christians with two plots of land to build churches, saying this was against Islamic law. âThe recent measure of allowing non-Muslims to build places of worship in Kuwait is illegal under Islamic law,â Waleed al-Tabtabai said in a statement after the government provided the land. Tabtabai, a member of the hardline Sunni Salafist group, said non-Muslims must be allowed to practice their religious rituals but without the need to establish places of worship. He said Kuwait at present has about 20 churches and the number of Kuwaiti Christians is less than 100, âwhich means there is a church for every five Kuwaiti Christians.â Church sources told AFP on Wednesday that the Gulf Arab state has eight churches, four of which have their own permanent buildings and the rest are in rented homes. According to the sources, there are between 150 and 200 Kuwaiti Christians and up to 350,000 foreign Christians mostly from India, the Philippines, Egypt, Lebanon and the West. The government has recently allotted Christians two large pieces of state land to build churches, a measure that was welcomed by the head of parliamentâs human rights committee, MP Ali al-Rashed. afp