Originally Posted by travelmad478
Second, why should it matter what I believe to anyone issuing a visa--if, as B747-437B says, they're asking to find out whether you should be subject to laws for Muslims, then why don't they just ask whether you're Muslim or not?
Bahrain used to do something similar (and may still). This "faith-based" inquiry was initially aimed at Shia muslims who the Sunni ruling classes there considered to be a revolutionary "risk". It might also have been there for purposes of allowing or denying inter-religious marriges when one party was a non-national. (On this latter point, maybe Bahrain was not the country engaged in such, but Saudi Arabia definitely does similar junk.)