SAUDI ARABIA COUNTRY PROFILE
their families. Converts can face honor killings. Most Saudi Christians conceal their faith, even from their families, out of fear of reprisals. 204 Similarly, foreign Christians face severe restrictions. Immigrants are forbidden from evangelizing Muslims or holding church gatherings, with violations leading to possible detention and deportation. An unofficial census by the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia estimates that Saudi Arabia’s Catholics number 1.5 million and are mainly foreign workers from India and the Philippines. Already vulnerable due to their ethnicity and low social standing, these migrants may face additional persecution for their Christian faith, especially if they converted from Islam. 205 JANUARY 2024 Open Doors reported in their World Watch List that a female convert from Islam to Christianity was beaten, locked in her room, verbally abused, and forced to marry a Muslim after her family found Christian text messages on her phone. 208 MAY 2024 The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Report 2024 recommended that the U.S. State Department redesignate Saudi Arabia as a Country of Particular Concern, based on the conditions of religious freedom within the country throughout 2023. 209
Islam is the official religion of Saudi Arabia, and the country’s 1992 Basic Law of Governance establishes the Qur’an and Sunna as the “formal” constitution. The legal system is based on Hanbali interpretations of Shari‘a law. 202 Religious freedom is not protected under the law, which criminalizes actions that challenge the religion or authority of the King or Crown Prince. The law prohibits promoting atheistic beliefs, undermining Islamic principles, publishing content against Islamic law, public non-Islamic worship, displaying non-Islamic symbols, converting Muslims to other religions, and proselytizing by non-Muslims. 203 Converting from Islam to Christianity is strictly prohibited. Men found to have converted are forced to leave their homes, while women face confinement and abuse within SELECTED INCIDENTS MAY 2023 The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) issued a report which found “almost all examples portraying Christians and Jews in a negative manner” had been removed from the latest Saudi textbooks. However, certain instances of this still persist. 206 OCTOBER 2023 The Apostolic Vicariates of Northern Arabia and Southern Arabia celebrated the 1,500 th Jubilee Year of St. Arethas and his Companions, in the hope it will renew and strengthen the faith of the Christians living in the region today. 207
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