Reply to Does Saudi Arabia Permit Churches and Synogogues?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] You should first figure out that Dubai is not in Saudi Arabia. [/quote]
Of course I know Dubai is not in SA! (Good attempt at a putdown, but fail) That's why I asked about Dubai, in addition to my question about SA.

FWIW, I've also heard Dubai is also unwelcoming to Jews, and it was a related thought. I'm trying to identify which Arab countries welcome Jews, and I heard that the United Arab Emirates was pretty bad too.[/quote]

Dubai is very different. The government there gives land to churches and will fund their construction. Christmas is widely celebrated and there is a huge amount of tolerance and encouragement. I don’t think there is currently an active synagogue there though there was one in the early 00s. That was government funded too. [/quote]
OP here. You seem knowledgeable this, so may I ask....I have heard a rumor that American Jews cannot visit Dubai if they have visited Israel in the past (as would show by their passport). Do you know if that is true? [/quote]

That’s not true at all. Unless it’s changed in the past year or two. When I lived there only two countries of the GCC denied entry on the basis of having and Israeli entry stamp - KSA and Kuwait. [/quote]

That is still true.  Lebanon also denies entry to those with Israeli stamps.  The UAE will also occasionally grant visas to Israelis.

My work also sent a Jewish person into KSA for a project and the Saudis were totally fine with him (they were educated Saudis).

There is a decent sized Jewish community in the UAE.  I don't think there are formal synagogues there but I'm sure there are some home-based ones.  There is no issue with Jewish people entering the UAE.  Their beef is not with Jews, it's with Israel so it's a political thing and not a religious one.  The Koran states that Muslim men can marry Christians and Jews (but Muslim women can't do the same).

There are vibrant and churches in the open in the UAE and 'pastor' is a valid visa job title (so there are full time church staff).  The government donates land and the royal family is very supportive of the Christian community.  For example one of the Sheikas recently flew all the pastors in the country to an archeological site where the earliest Christian settlement in the area was found.  Qatar allows churches but they don't allow full-time pastors to be on visas there (so they rely on laypeople to volunteer and for visiting pastors to preach).  As mentioned KSA churches are home-based with no pastors/ priests on valid work visas as a full-time job.[/quote]

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