The first?

And only?

This thread should not be under ´Turkey´ - I am moving it to where it belongs - ´News articles/Events/Announcements´  Any complaints please don´t let me know

Yes the first trudy, and is there is something wrong with taking the first step???? 

And more to follow ZZ, read the link please ...

BBC: (There are plans for further churches in Qatar, which correspondents describe as part of a strategy of opening up to the West.)

when have i complained or whined?your defending yourself by fake accusations ???!!!! plus i really wasnt telling you anything

Man you make me laugh!!!

there is 0% christians among the local Qartari population

this Church is built for christian people who may come and live in Qatar

and it is financed from the government of Qatar (which charge expatriates no taxes)

Now answer me this: if you had 0% muslim or hindo citizens among your population will you build a mosque for muslims , or a temple for hindos who might come and live in your countries??

Qatar first church sparks debate in Doh

February 16, 2008 9:57
Supporter of church’s construction say Islam guarantees right to build places of worship for other religions.
By Faisal Baatout - DOHA

A bitter debate has broken out in the tiny, oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar over construction of the Muslim country’s first Christian church, set to open next month in time for Easter.

Critics have branded the concept as “repulsive” while supporters said building places of worship for other religions is a right guaranteed by Islam.

One former minister insisted there should have been a public referendum.

“The cross should not be raised in the sky of Qatar, nor should bells toll in Doha,” wrote columnist Lahdan bin Issa al-Muhanadi in the Doha daily Al-Arab — adding an apology in case the concept upset any readers in this country of 900,000, of whom only 200,000 are native Qataris.

But the former dean of the sharia (Islamic law) school at Qatar University, Abdul Hamid al-Ansari, disagreed, saying having “places of worship for various religions is a fundamental human right guaranteed by Islam.”

.http://copts.com/english1/index.php/2008/02/16/qatar-first-church-sparks-debate-in-doh/#more-1416

Wow. thats so harsh, what do they eman a cross wont be in qatars skyline? That is soooo wrong and extremist and i dont know how any body can think in that dreadful way!

So Sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope they build a 100 churches!

Theres no such thing, man, OF!!!

Speechless!

According to figures on Wiki, 2/3 of the population are expats - amongst many christians. So why not building temples, churches I would say? These expats didn´t arrive yesterday, therefor the first church in March 2008 I find quite late.

Trudy, with all due respect, i don´t think your country or any other country in the west will do what my country did ??? they won´t finance a mosque for muslim expats or a hindo temple for hindo expats, because it´s not what it happens there. you have muslims or hindo citizens then you will have mosques or temple. but you can inform  me of the situation there.

and about the cross not being raised on the church, in Qatar we don´t have anything raised on mosques either, no moon or a star or anything else.

31/12/2005: 16.334.000 inhabitants of which 48% non-religious, 43,7% Christian, 5,8% Muslim and the rest ´others´ (Hindus, Jews, Buddhist) (figures from wikipedia.nl).

No, the Dutch government does not pay for mosques but they don´t pay for churches either as we have a strict line between state and religion. All religions need to pay for themselves for building a house of prayer - there is no difference in Catholic churches, protestant churches, Jewish synagogues, Hindu temples or Islam mosques. But we do allow anyone to have a place for themselves. There are about 450 mosques here, the Mevlana mosque was in 2006 announced as the most beautiful building in Rotterdam. The first mosque here was build in 1955, although most Muslim immigrants came early sixties or later - and the first Dutch became converted in 1963. Since then there are 6000 converted Dutch.

The Mevlana Mosque in Rotterdam (at about 1km from my house):

I hope I gave enough information? And please understand me, my only remark was that I find Qatar´s decision to allow a church quite late - after having Christians for years/decades among them. That´s all.