Een opvallend bericht op mijn favoriete website ChristianHeadlines.com. Het gaat over een ontmoeting van religieuze leiders in Los Angeles op 13 september om te spreken over religieuze tolerantie. Van de drie monotheïstische godsdiensten waren vertegenwoordigers aanwezig. Als initiatiefnemer en schrijver van het document ‘Bahrain Declaration for Religious Tolerance’ werd de aanwezige politieke leider van Bahrein koning Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa voorgesteld. Maar de bijeenkomst had een soennitisch karakter en was een schijnvertoning over religieuze tolerantie. Dat kritiekloos werd opgepikt door Amerikaanse conservatief-christelijke media. Koning Al Khalifa is het tegendeel van religieuze tolerantie. Mijn reactie bij het bericht:
What if religion is the problem? Let’s say if it is a case of short-sightedness. So, it would be wise, in preventing that, to meet representatives of all beliefs. Not only leaders of religious organisations.
By the way, the Sunni King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain is widely known for suppressing and crushing the opposition of the majority Shiite community. With the help of the Sunni leadership of Saudi Arabia. He has not spearheaded a movement of tolerance, but a movement of intolerance. Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa is the example of religious repression.
Amnesty International says in a report from 21 August 2012: ‘However, the government’s response has only scratched the surface of these issues. Reforms have been piecemeal, perhaps aiming to appease Bahrain’s international partners, and have failed to provide real accountability and justice for the victims. Despite the authorities’ claims to the contrary, abuses continue to be committed against those who oppose the Al Khalifa family’s rule. The government is refusing to release scores of prisoners who are incarcerated because they called for meaningful political reforms, and is failing to address the Shi’a majority’s deeply seated sense of discrimination and political marginalization, which has exacerbated sectarian divisions in the country.’
It is one or the other. Or the other religious leaders who met with him are not well-informed about the unilateral view of religious tolerance by their interlocutor Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. Or they are aware of it and keep it silent.
If Veronica Neffinger was a well-informed and objective journalist who knows what she is talking about, she should have mentioned the details of the religious intolerance of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain. But she did not.
Foto 1: Schermafbeelding van deel artikel ‘Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Leaders Join Together to Advocate for Religious Tolerance’ van Veronica Neffinger op ChristianHeadlines.com, 14 september 2017.
Foto 2: Schermafbeelding van tweede pagina van rapport ‘BAHRAIN: FURTHER INFORMATION: BAHRAINI ACTIVIST SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS: NABEEL RAJAB’ van Amnesty International, , Index number: MDE 11/051/2012.