By Joseph Daniel, ICC Fellow I remember years ago when I filled out my first visa form in the Middle East, I paused at a line that startled me: “What is your religion?” As an American, my immediate reaction was surprise. I thought, “They can’t ask that!” In the United States, religion is considered a private matter. It is rarely recorded on government-issued documents like passports, driver’s licenses, or birth certificates, and asking about it would generally be seen as inappropriate, if not unconstitutional. But in much of the Middle East and North Africa, the question is routine.