Christians 'should be allowed to practise their faith'

Doha: The European Union expects Islamic countries to allow Christians to exercise their religion as freely as Muslims in Europe, a top EU official said here on Sunday.

Praising Qatar for allowing the construction of its first church, Hans-Gert Pattering, President of the European Parliament, said while the EU allows Muslims to have prayer houses and mosques, it also expects Muslim countries to reciprocate the same freedom.

"Muslims who are living in Europe can live their religion freely. They have their prayer houses and their mosques ... We expect that Christians in the Muslim world can live their [religious] beliefs too," Pattering told a press conference in Doha.

"I appreciate the fact that Catholics now have their own church in Doha ... this is what I understand as mutual tolerance."

Pattering was in Doha to address a keynote speech on intercultural dialogue at the 8th Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade yesterday evening.

Not mainstream

Speaking to international media, he said he strongly rejected the theory of an inevitable clash of civilisations between the Islamic world and the West. "It is our moral and political obligation to work for peace and understanding," he said.

Asked to comment on the recent release of anti-Islam movie Fitna by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders and the cartoons mocking the Prophet, Pattering said the EU rejects the equation between Islam and terrorism.

"If there are people who defend terrorism in the name of Islam, I believe they do not represent mainstream Muslims. We [the EU] do not accept that Islam and terrorism are [portrayed] as the same thing," he said.

"We [the EU] are not in favour of statements, pictures and descriptions that identify violence with Islam ... We on one side are committed to media freedom, but on the other side I am in favour of an attitude by which the media exercise self-responsibility...

"We should not accept the beliefs of the other, but we should respect them and our relations should be based on mutual tolerance."

Pattering said during 2008, the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, the European Parliament intend to achieve closer cooperation between cultures, especially by promoting dialogue with Arab and Islamic countries in an effort to improve mutual understanding.

Livni at doha forum

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan were expected to be among the participants to the 8th Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade that opened in Qatar yesterday evening.

The three-day event will address a wide range of political, economic, developmental and human rights issues in nearly ten sessions attended by leading political figures, intellectuals, diplomats, academics, high ranking officials and businessmen from across the world.

The Forum will also dedicate several sessions to international dialogue and world peace.