Saudis Disguise Suppression of Free Speech in Cloak of Religious Tolerance

The New York Times reported today Saudi Arabia was seeking discussion at the United Nations centered on promoting religious tolerance. It’s ironic that Saudi Arabia, which certainly suppresses religious plurality within its own borders, would ask the world for so much more.

It smacks of, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

According to The New York Times, here has already been some backlash against the Saudis with Human Rights Watch “calling on Saudi Arabia to start the fight against religious intolerance at home by ending ’systemic religious discrimination.’”

Apparently, the purpose of the Saudi move is to prevent a repeat of the Danish cartoon debacle that resulted in more than 100 dead and another 800 injured. Of course, that outrage was the result of some clever manipulation by a handful of imams.

Now, the Saudi state seems to be trying its own hand at manipulating freedom of speech in the name of religious tolerance. Is there no end to the lengths the faithful will go to stifle all voices that don’t breathe the word “god” or “allah” in and out with every breath?

President Bush was reported as being supportive of “…any attempt by the leader of a Muslim state to promote tolerance…” More irony, coming from a leader of a supposedly civil (read secular) state who has done all that he can to blur the the line between church and state in favor of the church – well, of Christianity, really. The current president could not be less interested in promoting widespread religious tolerance across faith communities.

And who could be less interested on tolerance of any sort than the current president? I still think the crime of neglect that took place in the South following Hurricane Katrina would not have occurred if the racial composition of that region had been different. More gay men and lesbians would be able to create legal families if the Bush presidency had really been interested in tolerance.

The president’s faith did nothing to nurture tolerance within our country. Instead, I will remember President Bush as the president who divided our nation along political, racial and religious lines. What a shame.