Map of Apostasy Laws

Only Israel and Lebanon allow for religious change in the Middle East core.

The Pew Research Center and Washington Post created the above map showing where apostasy is against the law on any governmental level.  All countries with apostasy laws are in the Muslim gap with the excpetion of Nigeria.  Nigeria does not break the Islamic rule, however, because the apostasy laws are in the northern state run by Nigeria.  The presence of these laws show the difficulty in separating religion and state on even the most basic levels in the Islamic mindset.  However, this is not so surprising since Islam and the state were meant to be one from the beginning while Christianity and Judaism (and even Dharma religions) had their beginnings separate from the state.

Interestingly enough, the Assad-run Syrian Arab Republic only forbids apostasy when public order is 'disturbed' by it.  There are no legal cases which cite apostasy disturbing the public order.  Anti-apostasy laws are only enforced in Islamist rebel controlled parts of Syria.