For this program to be sponsored and moderated by the government of Saudi Arabia is so ludicrously offensive as to approch being obscene.

Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich Islamic kingdom that forbids the public practice of other religious faiths, will preside Wednesday over a two-day U.N. conference on religious tolerance that will draw more than a dozen world leaders, including President Bush, Israeli President Shimon Peres and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The event is part of a personal initiative by Saudi King Abdullah to promote an interfaith dialogue among the world's major religions.

I’m sorry, but for the head of a nation with an established religion that not only forbids religious freedom but also prescribes (and imposes) death as a penalty for conversion to host such an event is offensive. There really isn’t anything to talk about with Islam until the adherents of that faith are prepared to come out of the sixth century and allow all believers the rights that they demand for themselves. I’m ashamed of President Bush for having participated in this farce.