Some more news that will be of no interest to the BBC

ME Forum report that:

'According to several Arabic news sources, last Monday, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, declared that it is "necessary to destroy all the churches of the region."

The Grand Mufti made his assertion in response to a question posed by a delegation from Kuwait: a Kuwaiti parliament member recently called for the "removal" of churches (he later "clarified" by saying he merely meant that no churches should be built in Kuwait), and the delegation wanted to confirm Sharia's position on churches.

Accordingly, the Grand Mufti "stressed that Kuwait was a part of the Arabian Peninsula, and therefore it is necessary to destroy all churches in it."

As with many grand muftis before him, the Sheikh based his proclamation on the famous tradition, or hadith, wherein the prophet of Islam declared on his deathbed that "There are not to be two religions in the [Arabian] Peninsula," which has always been interpreted to mean that only Islam can be practiced in the region.

While the facts of this account speak for themselves, consider further:

Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah is not just some random Muslim hating on churches. He is the Grand Mufti of the nation that brought Islam to the world. Moreover, he is the President of the Supreme Council of Ulema [Islamic scholars] and Chairman of the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Issuing of Fatwas. Accordingly, when it comes to what Islam teaches, his words are immensely authoritative.'

It seems that whilst we in the West have to tiptoe around Islam's presence in the West for fear of being called Islamophobic or racist, one of the most senior Islamic scholars and authorities feels able to be at the best less than helpful towards non-Muslims in the Arabian peninsular and at the worst incite people to attack and destroy churches in the Arabian peninsular.

So when an obscure American pastor says he will burn a Koran the world's media, including (indeed especially) the BBC, flood the airwaves and Internet with accusations of hate-speech, Islamophobia and more. Yet when a senior (maybe the senior) Islamic cleric declares that it is "necessary to destroy all the churches of the region", not a word on the BBC or any other mainstream Western media. Why the difference in reporting?