A Church in Qatar?

The debate in Qatar over new church buildings has made me appreciate once again the religious freedom we do have here in Kuwait. Although other Gulf countries do allow church buildings, Kuwait led the way with a constitution that enshrined freedom for other faith groups right from day one. Saudi Arabia by contrast has a constitution which expressly forbids the expression of any form of religion except for Islam (and then only certain forms of Islam).

All the Gulf states play host to a large expatriate community who represent different faiths. Following the time honoured tradition of hospitality which is a much vaunted feature of Arabian society, Christians and other groups have been welcomed and accommodated in most of the Gulf countries. The success of the Gulf economies is very much a tribute to the combined team efforts of both local and expatriate workers working together in harmony.

What happens when there is no freedom of religion?

For the Christian, nothing much. They will continue to work hard and seek to be good neighbours and be a blessing to their hosts. While the word “church”” for most people denotes a building used for Christian worship, the Bible refers to “church” as a people. Literally translated the Greek word for church ‘ex-clesia’ means ‘to call out’. We should therefore not be tied down to a special building in order to pray.

Having said that, Christianity, like all religions, is a communal faith, and in the absence of a special building, Christians will gather together wherever they can. Sometimes they meet in schools or villas or even in restaurants. But there is absolutely no need to erect a huge building and plant a big cross on the top. They do appreciate it though when it is possible to have a building set aside just to meet as a group.

What seem to lie behind the protest in Qatar, is the fear that a church will become a centre for proselytizing Muslims. Proselytizing is defined as an activity where one engages in trying to persuade through propaganda, manipulation or coercion one person to adopt a religion. Although Christianity is a missionary faith, proselytizing as defined above finds no place in the teaching of scripture.

Should Qatar, allow the building of a church? That is entirely up to her. As Christians we are taught explicitly in scripture to obey the law of the land. One thing is certain, whatever happens Christians will continue to worship together, be it discretely in a villa or in a purpose built worship centre.