Christmas is no longer being celebrated behind closed doors for Christians in the Persian Gulf. For the first time this year, Christian expatriates have taken their holiday festivities outside the churches.

|PIC1|In the Arab states where Islam is the official religion, the minority of Christians are enjoying greater freedom to worship. While the United Arab Emirates provides for freedom of religion, religious activities outside the church had always been banned. This year, UAE officials have stepped back to allow for more religious freedom and even joined some of the celebrations themselves.

"We have lived here for years and we always practiced our rituals freely inside the church," said a member of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic church in Abu Dhabi, according to AFP. "But to be allowed to have a religious play outside the church is a great progress."

The church recently performed a religious play in the city's cultural center.

Christians are increasingly gaining larger grounds for worship throughout the Gulf States where Christmas has become more apparent with adornment in the malls and other public areas.

|AD|Thousands of Christians in Dubai held an outdoor Christmas mass and believers in Qatar will be seeing six new churches built, along with the country's first dormitories for priests. The government provided 1.02 million square feet of land for the new project.

Christmas in Saudi Arabia, however, paints a different picture for Christians.

Unlike the other Gulf States, there is no sign of the Christmas season in Saudi Arabia, which bans all non-Islamic practices.

Freedom of religion does not exist in the Islamic state, according to the U.S. Department of State's International Religious Freedom Report released last month. There have been numerous accounts of religious persecution in Saudi Arabia, which was redesignated as a "Country of Particular Concern," including the recent abuse of a teacher who was flogged for discussing the Bible and praising Jews in his classroom. Those who perform their own rituals could be imprisoned or deported.

Still, Christmas is celebrated within the private borders of underground churches where hundreds of thousands of Christians pray and worship.







Audrey Barrick
Christian Today Correspondent