wfn.org | Episcopalians: State Department report on religious freedom cites Iraq and China

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

October 15, 2002

2002-237

Episcopalians: State Department report on religious freedom 
cites Iraq and China

by James Solheim

(ENS) A State Department report on religious freedom worldwide 
has cited continuing repression in Iraq and China--and mentioned 
five other countries where believers are persecuted.

The report, released October 7, says that Iraq has desecrated 
Shiite Muslim mosques and holy sites, disrupted religious 
ceremonies and interfered with religious education. The Shiites 
are a majority in the southern part of Iraq and have been viewed 
with suspicion by the Sunni-dominated regime in Baghdad.

Shiites are also persecuted in Saudi Arabia but the report 
says the repression there is not as violent as in Iraq. "Freedom 
of religion does not exist" in Saudi Arabia, the report adds.

In its comments about the situation in China, the report says 
that "unapproved religious and spiritual groups remained under 
scrutiny and, in some cases, harsh repression." Only 
government-sanctioned churches and religious organizations have 
any kind of religious freedom, largely because the government 
continues its efforts "to prevent the rise of possible sources 
of authority outside of the control of the government."

In releasing the report, Secretary of State Colin Powell said 
that it sheds a much-needed light on governments that make it 
"difficult and even dangerous for people to follow the dictates 
of their conscience and to practice their faith." He said that 
American leaders "categorically reject the notion that the 
security or stability of any country requires the repression of 
members of any faith."

The report, issued every year since 1999 as required by 
Congress, also cited five other countries. It said that Myanmar 
(formerly known as Burma) continues to view religious freedom as 
a threat to national security. In Cuba, those who worship in 
officially sanctioned churches still face surveillance by 
security forces. In Laos, the government inhibits religious 
practice by everyone but especially those belonging to minority 
religions that fall outside of mainstream Buddhism, such as 
Christianity. In North Korea, human rights groups outside the 
country have provided reports that members of so-called 
"underground churches" have been harassed, beaten and even 
killed. In Vietnam, reports indicate that Hmong Christians in 
some villages have been forced by local villagers to renounce 
their faith.

Only Afghanistan is credited with making any significant 
improvement in religious freedom, especially since the fall of 
the rigid Taliban led to the establishment of a much more 
tolerant government.

"Religious freedom, one of the most fundamental of human 
rights, is a liberty long championed by the United States and 
cherished by the American people," the introduction to the 
report says. "It is the policy of the United States government 
to promote religious freedom worldwide, for every human being, 
regardless of religion, race, culture or nationality." It adds 
that "the promotion of religious liberty as a foreign policy 
goal was given increased emphasis with the passage of the 1998 
International Religious Freedom Act."

The religious freedom policy is also "a means of fighting the 
war on terrorism," according to the report. The terrorist 
attacks of September 11, 2001, "highlighted the reality that 
people can and do exploit religion for terrible purposes, in 
some cases manipulating and destroying other human beings as 
mere instruments in the process." The attacks have "raised the 
stakes for U.S. religious freedom policy" and could provide "one 
of the most effective and sustainable antidotes, not only to 
religious persecution and discrimination, but also to 
religion-based violence."

------

(The full report is on the State Department's web site at 
www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2002/13606.htm.)

--James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.