Free Republic

Saudi-US Relations After Sept. 11, 2001 Part IA group of intellectuals and academics attended a forum organized by Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, in Riyadh recently to discuss Saudi-US relations after the Sept. 11, 2001 events from a Saudi perspective. In this, the first of a four-part series, the Jeddah-based managing editor of the paper, Tariq Al-Homayed, reports on what they had to say about the political fallout.In the first session, which was devoted to politics, the participants agreed that there was a problem in Saudi-US cultural ties in particular. The talks emphasized the need for the...

Those who want churches in Saudi Arabia called 'fanatics' March 14, 2003 Advertisement As Islam's birthplace, Saudi Arabia never will allow churches to be built, said Prince Sultan, the defense minister. ''This country was the launch pad for the prophecy and the message and nothing can contradict this, even if we lose our necks,'' Sultan said in comments reported by Saudi newspapers. Those who want to establish churches ''are, unfortunately, fanatics,'' Sultan said. ''There are no churches--not in the past, the present or future. . . . Whoever said this must shut up and be ashamed.'' Islam's founding prophet, Mohammed,...

WASHINGTON - The United States came very close last week to placing Saudi Arabia on a list of countries officially censured because of official religious intolerance, the State Department said Monday. Instead, the department decided to try to work with Saudi officials to seek out any opportunities there may be to improve the state of religious freedom in that Middle East country, spokesman Richard Boucher said. Boucher spoke after Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan said that, as the birthplace of Islam, Saudi Arabia will not allow churches to be built on its land regardless of the outcry from "fanatics." Boucher...

This present report, undertaken with the cooperation of the American Jewish Committee, presents the official Saudi worldview to which school students between the ages of 6-16 are exposed. 93 books taught in grades 1-10, mostly from the years 1999-2002 have been examined. Special emphasis is placed on the Saudi Arabian attitude to the "other", namely, Christian, Jews and the West as well as on the Middle East conflict, the concept of government , women's status in society and children's status in the family.