Source: Religion News Service
VIENNA (RNS) — Just over five years ago, a Saudi-financed center for interfaith relations opened in Vienna amid concern it might be a public relations fig leaf for a country often slammed for its lack of religious freedom.
Since then, the reformist Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who could reign over the desert kingdom for decades if he takes over as planned from his elderly father King Salman, has raised hopes that the tight grip of the ultraconservative religious establishment on the country is loosening.
In October, Salman, 32, said he wants to return his country to “a moderate Islam open to the world and all religions.”
Categories: Austria, Europe, interfaith, Middle East, religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, The Muslim Times