ICC Note: Saudi Arabia, a country whose political system is based on Sharia Law, has approximately 4.4 million Christians living and thriving underground. While the majority of these Christians are expatriates, the nation is seeing an increased number of nationals turn to Christ, despite intensive persecution. In Saudi Arabia, apostasy is punishable by death. It is through online discipleship courses, that Saudis are hearing the gospel now.

05/31/2016 Saudi Arabia (Christian Today): Forced to live in secret, Christians in Saudi Arabia are being supported in their faith online.

Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia, where the legal system is based on Sharia law. Courts regularly impose severe physical punishments, including the death penalty, for apostasy, and non-Muslim places of worship are prohibited.

According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Saudi Arabia “remains uniquely repressive in the extent to which it restricts the public expression of any religion other than Islam”.

The government prosecutes, imprisons and flogs individuals for dissent, apostasy, blasphemy and sorcery, and imposes “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom”.

It’s not only religious people who are targeted. A law enacted in 2014 equates atheism with terrorism. The legislation bans “calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of Islamic religion.”

There are, however, some 1.4 million Christians living in the country. According to a study earlier this year, 4.4 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s population identifies as Christian – up from less than 0.1. per cent (50 people) just over 100 years ago in 1910.

The majority of these Christians are expatriates or migrant workers, but according to persecution charity Open Doors, Saudi natives are also turning to Christianity.

The charity is supporting Mohammed (name changed), a secret believer who converted after learning about Christianity through an online discipleship course. He made contact with Christians in another Middle Eastern country, and then spent a week there – going to church for the first time, and attending Bible studies.

After a few days he was asked who Jesus was. “He is my Saviour, my God”, was Mohammed’s reply, and he was baptised, returning to Saudi Arabia with a Bible.

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