In Arab Nation, Christians, Buddhists and Jews Emerge to Worship…
U.A.E. celebrates religious tolerance and prepares to welcome Pope Francis
http://archive.today/2019.01.27-190009/https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-arab-nation-christians-buddhists-and-jews-emerge-to-worship-11548594001
DUBAI - Every Friday, on the fourth floor of a hotel conference center in this Arab business hub, several thousand Christians arrive to worship in two-hour shifts at what may be the world's best-hidden megachurch. The U.S. government has been supportive of the U.A.E.`s push for tolerance, and State Department officials have met with local religious leaders, according to people who attended the meetings, amid efforts to foster better religious understanding across the Middle East, partly to combat terrorism. There are about 45 officially sanctioned church buildings in the country, but more than 700 Christian congregations, leaving them to share limited space for services. In the lobby of the Evangelical Church center in Abu Dhabi, the capital, a board lists more than 50 congregations that worship there.
"There's certainly a need for it," says Rev. Andrew Thompson, the British chaplain at St. Andrew's, an Anglican church in Abu Dhabi. Congregations started meeting all over the city, but authorities eventually banned the practice last year, citing existing regulations for religious institutions. Only three churches - including Fellowship - were allowed to continue meeting in hotels following an appeal to Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al-Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi's ruling family who has been the country's minister of tolerance since 2017. Concerns about Christian congregations that couldn't meet because of that move came up in discussions between a delegation of American evangelical leaders and Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed in November, according to several people who were there. Local religious leaders said they are encouraged by gradual progress and are hopeful for the future.In a conference-center ballroom, a nine-piece band led by a Filipino woman in stonewashed jeanssung a rendition of Matt Redman's Christian pop hit "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord).