Religious freedom is fundamental to human rights

Published: May 9, 2010

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Religious liberty is the first freedom granted by the First Amendment. It also is a principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948, with the U.S. voting "aye."

Americans understand that freedom to worship as they choose, or not at all, is a fundamental component of democracy itself, and a few hundred residents of Bradford County demonstrated support for the concept of freedom of religion in observing National Day of Prayer last week on the steps of the county courthouse in Towanda despite a controversial ruling by a judge declaring the observances illegal.

Last month, a U.S. District judge in Wisconsin, Barbara Crabb, ruled that the National Day of Prayer, which had been established by Congress in 1952, was unconstitutional. However, the ruling can't take effect until all appeals to the ruling are exhausted.

Support for religious freedom is why Congress established the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in 1998, in order to assess the state of that fundamental freedom in countries around the world.

It's not surprising that the commission's recently released 11th annual report identifies some of the world's most notoriously repressive regimes as violators of religious freedom.

What should concern Americans and the Obama administration even more so is that some of the countries named by the commission are American allies, including Saudi Arabia, China and Pakistan. Two, Iraq and Afghanistan, are places where Americans have invested vast amounts of blood and treasure in efforts to not simply bolster security, but to build more democratic societies.

"Countries of particular concern" identified by the commission are Myanmar (Burma), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. Those on a "watch list" are Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan and Venezuela.

Like the Bush administration before it, the Obama administration has failed to exercise sanctions authorized by the law. And, after a year in office, Mr. Obama has yet to name an ambassador at large for religious freedom, as required by law.

The president should give religious freedom, a fundamental human right, higher priority in the nation's effort to nurture democracy around the world - beginning with a new ambassador.

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4 posted comments

fill the post - Thank you for your reply. I love reading other people's opinions. Too often disagreements here at thedailyreview.com are attack the messenger rather than "this is my view on the message."

I'll just throw out one more thought --- not only religious freedom, but the strife that comes from different religions within countries such as Iraq where you have the Kurds, the Sunnis, and the Shiites. Now there's a variation on the same problem. Or the Catholics and the Protestants in Northern Ireland.

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BC Native,  05/10/10 8:21
This is one of the few government posts I would like to see filled, and with the meanest SOB we can put in there. Hillary comes to mind. This person's job is to monitor and police religious freedom across the world. Their job SHOULD be forcing a visit, sort of an 'onsite inspection' with all the offending countries, and holding said countries up to ridicule on the world stage. The world's largest problem at this point is the seething corner of the world where our soldiers die regularly, in an effort to get fifth rate countries to solve their religious problems, and recognize that other religions have an equal right to exist and worship as they please. It's not a losing battle, but it's a tough fight. A religious ambassador, in the long run should seek a world where each country let their citizens choose a religion and have the freedom to follow it. If there were no more religious wars, we'd have to fight about land, water, rice, fuel, clean air and other important stuff. Some of those are worth dying for. Religious belief is not. They should fill this post with a heavyweight like Colin Powell, Bill, Al Gore, Sarah - somebody with some clout. Solve this issue and a lot of other problems would seem easy.
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fill the post,  05/10/10 7:09
Democracy cannot be nurtured with good will. This country got democracy through the sweat and blood from the brave souls who dared to demand freedom. As Memorial Day approaches consider those who gave the ultimate for our freedom and democracy.
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Bill Wheeler,  05/09/10 7:01
1. An ambassador-at-large for religious freedom? Is this a paid position and who pays for it if so?

2. "...failed to exercise sanctions authorized by the law..." So what? a) it's their country, not ours b) you get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar c) I see how well sanctions have worked as far as our foreign policy with Cuba for the last 5 decades has gone.

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BC Native,  05/09/10 2:43