ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — The Coalition for the Defense of Human
Rights gathered on Saturday to review the sad state of religious
liberty around the globe. Led by Keith Roderick of Christian
Solidarity International, the group painted a depressing portrait
of religious persecution worldwide.
The news was uniformly bad: the mistreatment of Coptic
Christians in Egypt, virtual destruction of the Christian community
in Iraq, afflictions visited upon Christians in Lebanon, and
deteriorating conditions facing Buddhists and Hindus as well as
Christians in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Obviously, religious liberty is one of the most threatened human
rights. Yet even as they persecute religious minorities in their
midst, Muslim states are waging an effort through the United
Nations (naturally!) to punish other religious believers who defame
(that is, question) Islam — in the name of protecting
“religion.”
The problem of religious persecution is pervasive. For instance,
in its newly released annual report, the United States Commission
on International Religious Freedom, a State Department advisory
panel, cites Russia, Turkey, and Iraq.
There is in Russia a “rise in xenophobia and ethnic and
religious intolerance,” including “violent attacks and other hate
crimes.” In the name of anti-terrorism the Russian government has
harassed “individual Muslims and Muslim communities.”
Legislation has targeted human rights groups and “non-
commercial organizations, including religious groups.” Moreover,
the Commission pointed to “continued restrictions by Russian
authorities on the exercise of freedom of religion or belief,
particularly at the regional and local levels.”
As for Turkey, the Commission cited restrictions on the display
of Islamic beliefs in the public square. Moreover, the Commission
highlighted “state actions that effectively prevent religious
minority communities from maintaining themselves, denying them full
property rights, including the right to own and maintain property,
and to train religious clergy.”
Of particular concern are “incidents of anti-minority violence,
especially against Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants, as
well as growing anti-Semitism in some sectors of the country.”
Evidence of this problem was the recent, gruesome torture-murder of
three Christians by Islamists.
Far worse, however, is the situation in Iraq. As the security
situation has deteriorated, religiously-oriented violence has
increased dramatically. Notes the Commission:
[S]uccessive Iraqi governments have not curbed the
growing scope and severity of human rights abuses. Instead, in the
past year, there has been a dramatic increase in sectarian violence
between Arab Sunni and Shi’a factions, combined with
religiously-motivated human rights abuses targeting non-Muslims,
secular Arabs, women, homosexuals, and other vulnerable groups, on
which the Commission has previously reported. Although the
Sunni-dominated insurgency and foreign jihadi groups are
responsible for a substantial proportion of the sectarian violence
and associated human rights abuses, Iraq’s Shi’a-dominated
government bears responsibility for the actions it engages in, as
well as for tolerating abuses committed by Shi’a militias with ties
to political factions in the governing coalition.
The problem is ongoing. At the Coalition meeting, Peter BetBasoo of
the Assyrian International News Agency reported on a Baghdad
neighborhood in which Muslim fundamentalists recently told
Christian families to move, convert, pay protection money, or turn
over a daughter for marriage. As many as half of Iraq’s
pre-invasion Christians have fled, primarily to Syria and Jordan,
where they live in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
RELIGIOUS MINORITIES SUFFER BADLY in a score of other nations. The
Commission designated 11 states as “Countries of Particular
Concern.” The title may sound goofy, but it represents brutal
repression in Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkemenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
Burma conducts murderous military operations against ethnic
groups, such as the Karen and Karenni, seeking autonomy. Many of
the resistors are Christians. Jim Jacobson of Christian Freedom
International decries “genocidal persecution at the hands of the
Burmese military.” Moreover, notes the Commission, “The government
imposes restrictions on certain religious practices, controls and
censors all religious publications, has supported, allowed, or
instigated violence against religious minorities, and in some areas
of the country, has forcefully promoted Buddhism over other
religions.”
In Sudan another long-running civil war primarily targeted
Christians and animists. The 2005 peace agreement has improved
religious freedom in the south, but elsewhere, warns the
Commission, the regime “has pursued coercive policies of
Arabization and Islamization resulting in genocide” and “severely
restricts the religious freedom and other universal human rights of
an ethnically and religiously diverse population.”
North Korea is a totalitarian states, crushing everyone
underfoot. Saudi Arabia allows more personal autonomy in general,
but demands total religious obedience.
Reports the Commission, “The government persists in banning all
forms of public religious expression other than that of the
government’s own interpretation of one school of Sunni Islam and
interfering with private religious practice. The government also
continues to be involved in financing activities throughout the
world that support extreme religious intolerance, hatred, and, in
some cases, violence toward non-Muslims and disfavored
Muslims.”
The ever-tightening grip of Iran’s Islamist rulers has reduced
religious as well as political liberty. President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad’s anti-Semitic rantings are well known. The situation
is deteriorating sharply “for religious minorities and for Baha’is,
Sufi Muslims, and Evangelical Christians in particular. All
minority groups faced arrests, imprisonment, other forms of
detention, and harassment,” reports the Commission.
“Sectarian and religiously motivated violence” bedevil Pakistan.
Legislation, including against blasphemy, “frequently result in
imprisonment on account of religion or belief and/or vigilante
violence against the accused.”
China has become an economic behemoth and is counting on
increased prestige as a result of the 2008 Olympics. Yet the
communist regime runs scared in the face of growing religious
faith.
Believers are arrested, jailed, and tortured. Reports the
Commission: “Every religious community in China continues to be
subject to serious restrictions, state control, and repression. The
most severe religious freedom abuses are directed against Tibetan
Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, Roman Catholics, house church and
unregistered Protestants, and spiritual groups such as the Falun
Gong.”
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are two generally thuggish states
that register religious groups, and then harass registered as well
as unregistered believers. (Many of the victims are Muslims.)
Eritrea also punishes all believers. Explained the Commission,
that country’s government systematically violates religious freedom
through “a prolonged ban on public activities by all religious
groups that are not officially recognized; arbitrary denials of
recognition; closures of places of worship; disruption of private
religious and social gatherings of members of unregistered groups;
arbitrary arrests and detention without charge of their members;
and the mistreatment or torture of religious detainees, sometimes
resulting in death.”
Finally, the Commission points to Vietnam, upgraded last fall by
the State Department. The Commission points to “continued arrests
and detentions of individuals in part because of their religious
activities and continued severe religious freedom restrictions
targeting some ethnic minority Protestants and Buddhists,
Vietnamese Mennonites, Hao Hoa Buddhists, and monks and nuns
associated with the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam.” Similarly,
the group International Christian Concern includes Vietnam in its
“Hall of Shame,” explaining that Vietnam “remains one of the most
difficult places to live as a Christian.”
AS IF THERE WEREN’T ENOUGH religious oppressors, the Commission
also maintains a watch list. Eight nations reside there:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, and
Nigeria. In all but Belarus and Cuba Islamic fundamentalism is the
problem.
As noted earlier, Iraq’s government is unwilling to even try to
protect religious minorities. In Afghanistan, says the Commission,
“the failure or inability of the Afghan government to exercise
authority effectively outside Kabul contributes to a progressively
deteriorating situation for religious freedom.”
The Commission cited Bangladesh because of “increasing Islamist
radicalism and violence and the threatening conditions for and
discrimination against religious minorities, including Hindus,
Christians, and Ahmadis.” In Egypt “serious religious freedom
violations affect Coptic Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Baha’is, as
well as members of minority Muslim communities, all of whom are
also subject to religiously-motivated attacks.”
In Indonesia the Commission points to “ongoing sectarian
violence,” “forcible closures of places of worship belonging to
religious minorities,” and “growing political power and influence
of religious extremists, who harass and sometimes instigate
violence against moderate Muslim leaders and members of religious
minorities.” Nigeria continues to see “violent communal conflicts
along religious lines, the expansion of sharia into the criminal
codes of several northern states, and discrimination against
minority communities of Christians and Muslims.”
Belarus and Cuba act as, respectively, authoritarian former
Communist and continuing Communist states. In Cuba, reports the
Commission, “Both registered and unregistered religious groups
continued to experience varying degrees of official interference,
harassment, and repression.”
OBVIOUSLY, THERE IS MUCH WORK to be done to promote freedom of
religious conscience around the globe. Alas, the Commission doesn’t
have much good to say about the U.S. government’s response. There
is widespread suspicion that the State Department raised Vietnam’s
rating and toned down criticism of Saudi Arabia for political
reasons.
Moreover, the process of Expedited Removal prevents some
refugees from making their case for asylum before being deported.
The Bush administration has accepted shockingly few Iraqis as
refugees. The Patriot Act bizarrely blocks admittance of refugees
who have fought against abusive regimes. The Commission opined that
it had “repeatedly expressed concern over inadequate training of
consular and other Foreign Service Officers in refugee and
resettlement issues.” Aiding victims of religious persecution just
isn’t a priority in Washington.
There is no easy answer to religious persecution. Even if
policymakers were more concerned, the U.S. government’s options
would be limited. Iraq demonstrates how even the best-intentioned
military intervention can backfire.
The real work will have to be done by the rest of us. We must
educate the public about countries that oppress. We must protest,
embarrass and punish the worst offenders. We must aid the
persecuted and offer sanctuary to the oppressed. And we must
pray.
Americans complain about everything from irresponsible
politicians to high taxes. Fair enough. But we live charmed lives
compared to most people around the globe. The Apostle Paul wrote
that “those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (1
Cor. 4:2) We must remember, and fight for, our brothers and sisters
around the globe who can only dream of the liberties that we take
for granted.
