Saudi Arabia’s Religious Reforms Not Enough

Saudi Arabia has made some reforms to select polices impacting religious freedom, including improvements to its textbooks. Nevertheless, there are still several deeply rooted issues that undermine the credibility of its claims to be undertaking serious reform: non-Muslim communities may not construct houses of worship; Shi’a Muslims in Saudi Arabia still face systematic discrimination; religious dissidents continue to languish in prison; and the guardianship system limits a woman’s ability to exercise her religious freedom.It goes without saying that Saudi Arabia has a long way to go in terms of improving religious freedom conditions on the ground. USCIRF Supervisory Policy Analyst Scott Weiner joins us today to highlight the areas in which they have made reforms, and elaborate on the conditions as they currently stand. Read USCIRF’s latest Country Update on Saudi ArabiaLearn more about religious prisoner of conscience Raif Badawi mentioned in this episode.