The government requires residents to observe strict Muslim religious requirements in public, and official enforcers (mutawwa) ensure compliance. Public non-Muslim worship is forbidden, at the risk of arrest, imprisonment, flogging, deportation, and sometimes torture. Most Christians are expatriates; they are generally allowed to worship privately but some have been arrested, issued with death threats and forced into hiding. Recently there has been an increasing number of arrests. Most Saudi believers must keep their faith secret or risk honour killing – there was at least one last year.

Read more about Muslim background believers in Secret Believers.