It is no secret that Saudi Arabia, both its government and many of its people, heartily supported the mujahedin in Afghanistan in their fight against the Soviet Union when it invaded Afghanistan. Thousands of young Saudis flocked to Afghanistan to join the Islamic resistance against the communists.

When the Taliban took over control of the country, Saudi Arabia became one of three countries in the world, along with the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, to recognize the Taliban and establish diplomatic relations with them.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States the desert kingdom came under even more scrutiny and greater criticism for not clamping down on funds finding their way to groups involved in terrorist activities.

Additionally, there was ample room for improvement in Saudi Arabia's education curriculum, which education specialists familiar with its contents, believed that the current school system contributed toward aggravating the situation.

More recently however, King Abdullah has been spearheading reforms along with promoting an interfaith initiative aimed at reaching better understanding between the world's religions.

Among the changes called for by the king is a plan to introduce changes in the Islamic studies curricula for school children in Saudi Arabia. The king hopes better education will lead to better understanding, and that in turn, would lead eventually to better education and the defeat extremist ideology.

According to Okaz, a Saudi-based daily newspaper, the government of Saudi Arabia is about to introduce new textbooks which will include two subjects that have until now, been seen as some sort of taboo topics in Saudi Arabia: terrorism and takfir. (Takfir is the practice of declaring someone an apostate.)

One reference to terrorism in the new textbooks, for example, will say that "Islamic values cannot condone terrorism under any circumstances."

That was the good news.

The bad news is that at the same time Saudi Arabia, through an initiative by King Abdullah, is trying to have a resolution passed by the United Nations that would make blasphemy of any religion a crime.

Initially at least such a resolution would be nonbinding. In the long run however, the idea would be to have this resolution adopted by the General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council, which then would become a binding resolution.

Some critics fear that such a resolution could be used in some countries, including Saudi Arabia, to clamp down on minorities, or anybody not an agreement with the official government's line of thinking concerning religion. Some fear that this could be used against minorities in Saudi Arabia such as the Shiites and Christians.

That of course would go counter the very notion of freedom of religion as well as freedom of expression and speech.

The initiative by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to promote interfaith dialogue is highly commendable and should be encouraged. Whereas the U.N. proposal would set the clock back on interfaith relations.