Stumbled upon your blog

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Jun 20, 2015 at 23:00

Dear Dr Pipes,

I happened to stumble upon your blog about Vatican's emphasis on reciprocity with respect to relations with Islamic country. Vatican, rightfully, expects reciprocity with Islamic countries when it comes to building churches on lands claimed to be Islamic. Your blog quotes someone called Anwar Ashiqi who says "If they do't recognize him as a prophet, how can we have a church in Saudi Arabia". You responded to this comment by calling Ahiqi's question as "brilliant".

Ashiqi posed his question in 2008. I hope by now someone has educated him well. If not, I will do the favor. Ashiqi's question is logically absurd. Churches should be allowed in Islamic lands not because people accept Muhammad as a prophet but because they DO NOT accept Muhammad as a prophet (they will not need churches if they were to believe that Prophet Muhammad was a/the prophet). If I were to live in Jerusalem, I will need a temple with idols not because I think that idolatry is a sin but because I think that idolatry is not a sin. That is what is called tolerance for harmless differences. By calling Ashiqi's question 'brilliant' you said in one word what took me a paragraph.

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