All Saudis are considered Muslims, and the legal system is based on Sharia, or Islamic law. There are no church buildings in the country; Christian services are held in secret places. Christians from Muslim backgrounds usually keep their faith hidden; several have been forced to leave the country after their newfound faith was discovered. Leaving Islam is technically punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, yet the number of Saudi Muslims becoming Christians is increasing.
Saudi schoolbooks ‘teach students to hate those of other faiths’
Students in Saudi Arabia’s schools receive religious education that “contains hateful and incendiary language” towards other Islamic traditions than Sunni Islam, and severe criticism of Jews, Christians and people of other faiths, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report says. The comprehensive review of schoolbooks for religious studies for the 2016-17 […]
US government warned of persistent ‘ideology of hatred’ in Saudi textbooks
An American expert has accused Saudi Arabia of “obfuscation” and of breaking its promises to reform textbooks that pump out an “ideology of hatred” that threatens Western security and Middle Eastern stability. Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, was addressing the US […]
Saudi intellectual urges Muslim nations to treat Christians as equal citizens
The official designation of Christians as “protected people” in Islamic law is out of step with the modern concept of citizenship and should be abandoned, a Saudi intellectual has argued. Tawfiq Al-Sayf, a columnist for the Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat* noted that statements condemning the bombing of two Egyptian churches on […]
Trump calls on Arab, Muslim leaders to end ‘slaughter of Christians’
U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, 21 May. He mentioned the situation for Christians in the Middle East twice during his remarks: “Numerous Arab and Islamic scholars have eloquently argued that protecting equality strengthens Arab and Muslim communities. For many centuries, […]
How Saudi Arabia promotes extremist Islam
Bangladesh approved the construction on its territory of 560 mosques on Wednesday, April 26. The project, financed by the Saudi government to the tune of over a billion dollars, worries advocates of secularism and representatives of various religious minorities. According to La Croix International, they fear these mosques might become […]
Sheikh blames Saudi Arabia for global rise of Islamist terrorism
Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri in front of the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday, lit up in red for Red Wednesday in support of Christians under pressure for their faith.Twitter / @DrUmarAlQadri A leading Islamic scholar has described attacks on Christians by violent Islamic extremists as “heart-breaking” and condemned Islamic extremism as […]
Saudi Arabia limits powers of its religious police
Saudi Arabia’s official religious police were ordered to conduct their affairs with “gentleness and lenience” in a new directive issued in the capital, Riyadh, last week. While most “offenders” will be Muslims transgressing in dress or behaviour, some two million expatriate Christians thought to be living in Saudi Arabia – […]
‘Scandalous’ choice of Saudi for UN rights panel
Critics are accusing the UN of handing a key human rights role to the country with ‘arguably the worst record in the world when it comes to religious freedom’, writes the Independent. The appointment to the Human Rights Council of Saudi ambassador to Geneva, Faisal bin Hassan Trad, was uncovered […]
Saudi Arabia church plan ‘mooted’
Saudi Arabia has licensed the construction of a church for the very first time, according to MidEast Christian News. MCN reports that a Coptic Church is to be built in the country, after successful negotiations between Egypt’s Coptic leader Pope Tawadros II and the Saudi ambassador in Cairo. However, the […]
Lebanese men lashed in Saudi Arabia
Two Lebanese men have been lashed and handed prison sentences for their part in the conversion of a Saudi woman to Christianity. The men were also found guilty of supplying the woman with a false travel permit with which she fled to Lebanon.”