Manama: Kuwait's municipal council on Tuesday reiterated its refusal to grant a plot of land to build a church in the Mahboola area.
The council in early November said it would not consider the foreign ministry's request for the land, prompting a walkout by four of the eleven members present at the meeting and sparking a nationwide heated debate over the church plan.
"The council has voted and people should respect their decision," Ahmad Sultan, a blogger wrote following the decision.
Earlier, Bu Salem wrote on Al Aan, a Kuwaiti news portal, that Muslims were allowed to build mosques in Europe, the US and elsewhere. "We urge all Arab and Muslim governments to reciprocate and allow Christians to build their places of worship. This is only natural when people respect human dignity," he posted.
Another blogger, who calls himself Liberal, believes it's a matter of mutual respect.
"This is unfortunate. People need to respect other religions so that our own religion gets more respect."
However, a blogger, writing under the pseudonym Ajmi objected. "This is a tragedy. Do we really have Christians to explain the need for more churches? All the churches we have were built by the British colonialists. In fact, we do not need any more now," he wrote.
According to the Vicar Apostolic of Kuwait, Kuwait is home to around 200,000 Catholics, mainly migrant workers from India and the Philippines, belonging to different factions. There is a nominal Kuwaiti Christian population of approximately 200 citizens, most of whom belong to 12 large families.
