Historic preservation leads to . . . polytheism?

Those fun-loving Wahabi Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia fear that preserving historic buildings in their holy city of Mecca--even sites associated with the prophet Muhammed himself--might lead to polytheism.

Their reasoning is so convoluted that I cannot easily summarize it. But an Arab architectural historian (apparently) says, "They (Wahhabis) have not allowed preservation of old buildings, especially those related to the prophet. They fear other Muslims will come to see these buildings as blessed and this could lead to polytheism and idolatry."

So it is better to let them be bulldozed. (Does the developer pay off the clerics?) It's a pity that this Saudi blogger felt afraid to keep blogging: he would have had some interesting comments. Read his archives.

Letting women drive cars leads to polytheism too. But you knew that.