Anglican Church to Be Built in Qatar

For the first time since the 7th century, a church is to be constructed in Qatar, a predominantly Muslim Persian Gulf emirate.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams blessed a cross-shaped stone for the new building at a service for Qatar’s Anglican community conducted by the Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf.

Williams was in Qatar for the second “Building Bridges” seminar of Christian and Muslim scholars, including seven from the United States, to examine the state of Christian-Muslim relations.

“Christians and Muslims are not fully in agreement,” the archbishop said, “yet they are able to find words in which to explain and explore that disagreement because they also share histories and practices that make parts of their systems of belief mutually recognizable: a story reaching back to God’s creation of the world and God’s call to Abraham; a practice of reading and absorbing scriptures and of sharing a life in response to the word God speaks to creation.

“Listening to God and listening to one another as nations, cultures and faiths have not always had the priority they so desperately need. So this space for reflection is all the more important: It is both a symbol and an example of this kind of engagement.”