State Department softens language on Saudi religious freedom

September 15, 2006

WASHINGTON (RNS) The U.S. State Department on Friday (Sept. 15) released its annual list of nations where religious freedom is threatened and immediately drew fire for changing its description of Saudi Arabia.

Despite being a key U.S. ally, Saudi Arabia has been listed as a "country of particular concern" regarding religious freedom since 2004. The Middle Eastern country, which provides the U.S. with about 15 percent of its crude oil imports, has objected to its inclusion in the report in past years.

This year, however, the State Department omitted the statement:

"Religious freedom does not exist in Saudi Arabia," which had been included in the previous eight years' reports, said Dwight Bashir, a senior policy analyst for the independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

"It sends the message that there is some form of religious freedom," in Saudi Arabia, Bashir said, "but things have have not really changed."

While the Saudi government has talked about permitting broader freedom for religious minorities, such as Shiite Muslims, there has been little action to back up the rhetoric, according to Bashir.

Even the State Department's report states that the Saudi government "enforces a strictly conservative interpretation of Sunni Islam and Muslims who do not adhere to it can face significant society discrimination and serious repercussions at the hands of the ... religious police."

But the report also states that Saudi Arabia has taken steps, such as revising school textbooks "to weed out disparaging remarks towards religious groups" and curbing "harrassment of religious practice."

Israel, another U.S. ally, was chastised in the report for constructing a wall that "limited access to sacred sites and seriously impeded the work of religious organizations that provide humanitarian relief and social services to Palestinians." Israel was not listed as a "country of particular concern."

Those that were include:

-- Burma, where an authoritarian military regime infiltrates and monitors the "activities of virtually all organizations."

-- China, where "the government's respect for freedom of religion and freedom of conscience remained poor."

-- Eritrea, in which authorities "continued to harass, arrest and detain members of independent Evangelical groups."

-- Iran, where "there was further deterioration of the extremely poor status of respect for religious freedom."

-- North Korea, where defectors "allege that they witnessed the arrests and execution of members of underground Christian churches."

-- Sudan, where the government places restrictions on Christians in the northern part of the country.

-- Vietnam, where clergy and organized religious groups "at variance with State laws and policies" are restricted.

-- Daniel Burke