“A One World Religion Headquarters is set to open in 2022. The headquarters will be called The Abrahamic Family House and is being built on an island in the middle eastern city of Abu Dhabi.
The headquarters is being done in collaboration with Pope Francis and Sunni Muslim leader, Sheikh Ahmen al-Tayeb, after they both signed a global peace covenant called the Document of Human Fraternity for World Peace.
The stated purpose of the Abrahamic Family House is to bring understanding and tolerance among the faiths, but there are a couple of notable challenges. First, Abu Dhabi is a part of the UAE where it is illegal for Christians to proselytize and conversion from Islam is prohibited. The Pope represents Roman Catholicism where Christians are free to convert to Islam, but citizens of Abu Dhabi are not free to choose Christ.
Perhaps, like the Abrahamic Family House that promises tolerance and understanding, the UAE constitution also guarantees freedom of religion “in accordance with established customs,” but the devil is in the details. Though certain practices (like conversion from Islam) are directly prohibited, penal code for the UAE defers to Sharia Law, which strictly prohibits apostasy.
The One World Religion Headquarters will have three buildings; one building each representing the mosque, church, and synagogue. However, the church is not permitted to have a cross on the building as a method of identifying it, as it is illegal to display a Christian cross on a building in the UAE.
Article by Dr. Eugene Bach
Image from believers portal.
