Unfortunately, you are correct.
Posted on 08/09/2007 5:36:21 AM PDT by SJackson
Despite a series of initiatives aimed at generating foreign tourism, the Saudi Arabian government continues to bar Jews and Christians from bringing items such as Bibles, crucifixes and Stars of David into the country and is threatening to confiscate them on sight, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
"A number of items are not allowed to be brought into the kingdom due to religious reasons and local regulations," declares the Web site of Saudi Arabian Airlines, the country's national carrier.
After informing would-be visitors that items such as narcotics, firearms and pornography may not be transported into the country, the Web site adds: "Items and articles belonging to religions other than Islam are also prohibited. These may include Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols such as the Star of David, and others."
Contacted by the Post, an employee of Saudi Arabian Airlines in New York, who would only give her name as Gladys, confirmed this rule was in force. "Yes, sir," she said, "that is what we have heard, that it is a problem to bring these things into Saudi Arabia, so you cannot do it."
An official at the Saudi Consulate in New York, who declined to give her name, told the Post that anyone bringing a Bible into the country or wearing a crucifix or Star of David around their neck would run into trouble with Saudi authorities.
"You are not allowed to bring that stuff into the kingdom," the consular official said. "If you do, they will take it away," she warned, adding, "If it is really important to you, then you can try to bring it and just see what happens, but I don't recommend that you do so."
Asked to explain the policy, the official said, "Every country has rules about what can or cannot enter."
Over the summer, the Saudi government-run Supreme Commission for Tourism announced a number of steps, such as issuing group visas to foreigners through tour operators and granting longer entry visas, in the hopes of boosting the number of foreign tourists to 1.5 million annually by 2020.
As we used to joke, it's where flies go to die....
The national flower is the blue plastic shopping bag...
Without pilgrims making the haj, no one would go!
No alcohol, no women (well, not easily found anyway), no entertainment of any kind, and hot as hell (in fact hell is just a local call away!).
There is a rugged beauty to some of the landscape....
Re: is Saudi Arabia such a bland, featureless place?
Perhaps it is not featureless.....I have never been there. But if people cannot freely express their religion, women cannot walk alone, bikinis are not allowed I believe, drinking is not allowed, and dogs are not allowed in public, I don’t care what features it has.
It ain’t for me!
Re: There is a rugged beauty to some of the landscape....
Two words: Death Valley.
I was there a few years ago, and it was one of the most magnificent places I have ever visited.
Lots of sand and camels.
Who needs it?
There is no mention of the pedophile Mohammad in the Bible. Even the New Testament proceeds his pitiful life. You might be able to find something that could apply to him in Revelations, but some folks have a way of using Revelations to predict the coming of just about any mass murderer.
“Yes it’s fear plain and simple - fear that they would lose control over the people.”
That’s true but I think it’s also general koranic law that no Bibles are aloud in S.A. I’m not sure, it might be in the hadith. Anyone know?
That’s not to say it’s in anyway justified but only how much that religion has xenophobia built into it. And how much they fear Moh will be exposed as a fraud if any form of alternative is presented. The Bible says “Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good.”
Unfortunately, half of the Washington bureaucracy and the politicians are bought by the Saudis. And upon retiring from government they move into jobs at Saudi-funded think-tanks and lobbying firms. And it is the Saud family that is responsible for exporting wahhabism around the world and staring this God-awful mess we’re in. I think a little tit-for-tat is in order though: no Bibles in Sand-Land, then no korans in the USA! Or mosques either for that matter.
I am correct that this has always been the policy, not a change, and an issue only because of the desire to increase tourism
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/english.airline.bans.bible.on.saudi.arabia.flight/8917.htm
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070101/24722.htm
http://www.voy.com/176663/106.html
Toad Suck, Arkansas sounds attractive as well.
Unfortunately, you are correct.
It is possible to download the entire Bible and place it on one’s hard drive. It could be transfered to a DVD or one of the large flash drives without much of a problem.
They look like they’re goin’ steady in that pic...
We've been going steady with them for quite some time. I think it's an abusive relationship and I also think it's time to break up!
Actually now that I think of it there was a mention of Mohammad and anyone like him in the Bible..Under false profit!!!!
When are we simply going to tell the Saudi government specifically and the Islamic world in general to kiss our collective keisters?
___________
My guess is when we no longer require their oil, but that’s just a cynical guess.
“Unfortunately, you are correct.”
That picture makes me so mad. It speaks to President Bush’s general conformity to the zeitgeist: That multiculturalism is has intrinsic virtue. He holds hands with another man just because it’s ok in his culture. He’d never hold hands with a guy from, say, Oklahoma. American men don’t hold hands with each other because it’s stupid and homo. If it’s homo for us then it’s homo for Asians.
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