As I said above, we must strive to be the best, not to beat the worst.
That Saudi Arabia is intolerant does not suddenly make anyone more tolerant than them some sort of amazing bastion of tolerance.
Although I do concede the point about 150 Mosques... And given the non-religious value of Minarets, I'm really arguing a wider point than just this specific one.
You argue very well, and more importantly in a somewhat civilised manner which is more than most her can claim.
However I would say that you are playing devil's advocate a bit to much on the subject.
Of course we don't want to just look at the worst to make ourselves look good or justify actions, but the point Spie made is valid.
Though Islam is now a global religion, it is a valid point to mention that it always looks back to its roots, hence why the quran is only truly valid when read in arabic and why muslims always pray facing a certain direction.
If we are to "tolerate" the building of islamic buildings, I think it should be on the understanding of reciprocation in other countries that are strongly islamic. The whole idea about tolerance and understanding is that its a 2 way deal. We seek to understand "foreign entities" that "threaten" our culture (sorry for the harsh words, but my vocabulary has let me down on more gentle words) and the idea is that the "foreign entities" try to understand our point of view.
It is not happening, and the envitable result is that our civilisation will be washed away consigned to history along with other civilisations which at the time seemed impossible to topple, or there will be a pendalum effect and we will become incredibly intolerant.
I wish for neither, and hope there can be reconciliation.
