Saudi Arabia arrests 40 foreigners over Christian services

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Forty foreign Christians, children included, were arrested for proselytizing when police raided a clandestine church in suburban Riyadh. Convictions could result in harsh prison sentences, followed by deportation.

Lt. Col. Saad al-Rashud, who heads a wide-ranging security campaign in the capital, said the believers’ meeting place, which displayed crosses, was run by a Pakistani who led prayers, heard confessions, distributed Communion and claimed to heal the sick.

Although the Prophet Muhammad tolerated Christian churches in his realm, modern Saudi Arabia has made it illegal to promote any religion other than Islam and outlaws churches.

Members of other religions generally are allowed to practice their beliefs within private homes but may not seek converts or hold organized religious gatherings.

As this New York Times article makes clear–if State Department’s Annual Report on Religious Freedom didn’t–the Saudis still have serious issues with religious tolerance.

They also a a serious problem with transparency.

Many thousands of non-Muslims do, in fact, attend religious services in Saudi Arabia. Technically, it’s legal to do so.

But in a very intolerant society, there are many Saudis–by definition, Muslim–who are frightened of and/or offended by the existence of other religious practices within the holy land of Mecca and Medina. They can easily take advantage of other laws–particularly those concerning public gatherings–to shut down religious meetings or services. They can also use Shari’a law to stop religious observances if they claim that their purpose is to convert Muslims to any other religion, the religious crime of apostacy.

The key word is “discretion”. If groups are small–but how small is small enough?–then they can gather in relative safety. If people’s gathering is large enough to attract the attention of neighbors, the police, or the religious police, then there’s sure to be trouble.

Foreign embassies and consulates often make provision for the conducting of religous services on their extra-territorial grounds. Some of the larger companies that, because of official sponsorship, have some sort of immunity from intrusion by religious police, also make accommodation for religious services.

But these half-measures are not adequate for a modern country in a modern world. As the piece notes, the Prophet Mohammed tolerated the existence of Christianity–and arguably Judaism, as long as it was not political–within his Islamic state. There are even hadith that say that the Prophet visited cordially with Christian hermits in the days before he received his Revelation. Tolerance is possible; it is also necessary.