Religious Dialog? or "The Fox is in the Hen house"

a few days ago i wrote about the "centre for religious dialog" planned for vienna and sponsored by the king of saudi arabia.
well, the official signing took place yesterday and the signatories were: Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, prince "saud al-faisal bin abdulaziz al-saud", the foreign minister of spain and austria's vice chancellor, michael spindelegger. everybody, who was anybody, held a speech in which the most often used words were: dialog, peace, tolerance, understanding.
it was almost a feeling of  "alice in wonderland" to hear these very words out of the mouth of the saudi arabian prince.
the austrian journlists coul not be bamboozled this easily: samuel Laster asked the prince if he, as a jew could now come to saudi arabia, and have his wife drive him to a synagog. the prince's answer came quickly and tersly: "there are no jews in saudi arabia nor any synagogs." he neglected to mention that if his wife drove the car, she woul likely be arrested and whipped or jailed. he further made no mention of the fact that other religions, such as christianity could not be practiced, or that the death penalty loomed over any S.A. citizen, who changed from islam to another faith.
in his address mr. spindelegger spoke of the declaration of human rights and religious freedom,
the saudi prince allowed that he accepted the principles of the united nations.
another pesky journalist then asked how the prince could reconcile this acceptance with the fact that these fundamental rights are not present in saudi arabia.
the answer from the prince: "i hope that the centre for religious dialog will take leadership in this area."
well, we can all hope that this truly will foster tolerance and religious understanding all over the world, including Saudi Arabia.



(due to injury, typed with one hand )