On Nov. 27, 2012, Saudi Arabia joined with Austria and Spain in opening the King Abdullah International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Vienna. This organization promotes understanding and tolerance among Jews, Christians and Muslims. Yet, within Saudi Arabia itself, religious freedom does not exist. Most recently, authorities of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stormed a private residence and arrested 27 Lebanese Maronite Catholics who were celebrating the feast of the Assumption of Mary. It mattered little to the police that the Koran holds Mary in great esteem. The police stripped the worshippers — men, women and children — of their visas and deported them. The crime: their Christian prayers were not Islamic.
The English philosopher John Stuart Mill once quipped that “the Battle of Marathon, even as an event in British history, is more important than the Battle of Hastings.” And, he was right. Though the Battle of Marathon was fought centuries before Europe was born, the fate of Western Civilization hung on the outcome of that famous battle.