QATAR has rapidly gained reputation among Christians as a country that is serving as a bridge between religions, an Anglican bishop said yesterday. The Right Reverened Michael Lewis, whose responsibility includes all Christians in Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula, as well as Iraq and both parts of Cyprus, was speaking during a visit to Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID). “Qatar has obtained a reputation in promoting dialogue between religions and gained respect among all Christian foundations everywhere,” Bishop Lewis said. During the week-long visit, Lewis’s second, he will oversee the construction phase of an Anglican church in Abu Hamour, work on which started recently. “The Qatari government has generously asked my congregation to build a facility for all apostles here and we appreciate HH the Emir’s decision,” he noted. As part of the plan, churches for various congregations will be built at a site in Abu Hamour and once completed, will serve 15,000 to 20,000 faithfuls on any given Friday. “This is not to say that there won’t be people on other days as well,” Rev Canon Bill Schwartz of the Church of Epiphany, who was accompanying the Bishop, added. “Currently, we are in the fund-raising phase even though we have started building. Most of the funding comes from locals rather than any government. Qatari government was kind enough to allocate land for us, for free,” Rev Schwartz explained. The first ceremony of the Anglican Church in Qatar took place on May 9th, 2008. Bishop Lewis, 55, who holds a degree in Oriental Studies and in Theology from the University of Oxford, also praised DICID’s role in bridging religious divides. “I was here earlier this year to participate in the 6th Doha Conference of Interfaith Dialogue organised by DICID and was impressed by the level of contribution it was offering,” Lewis said. As for immediate results of the unique conference, he said, it will be a while. “Our duty is to continue to work together and try our best in solving the problems,” he reminded. DICID was inaugurated this year in May, on the sidelines of a two-day Interfaith Conference in Doha. The Doha Declaration that was announced by Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars after the conference is available on DICID’s website www.dicid.org, in both English and Arabic. The centre’s chairman board of director, professor Ibrahim Saleh al-Naimi and director Yusuf al-Siddiqi were present yesterday. GT

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