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Rome - Zenit.org - “Religious freedom is human freedom,” stated U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, last Monday when he presented the International Religious Freedom Report for 2013.
We have a long journey ahead to achieve this freedom, he added, given that 75% of the world’s population lives in countries that do not respect it.
Kerry emphasized that with the report the United States is “not arrogantly telling people what to believe.”
“We’re asking for the universal value of tolerance, of the ability of people to have a respect for their own individuality and their own choices,” he explained.
The report stated that in 2013 the world experienced “the largest displacement of religious communities in recent memory.”
These events affected millions of people, including Christians, Muslims and Hindus, along with other religions.
Syria rated a special mention, where the report said, “the Christian presence is becoming a shadow of its former self.”
In the city of Homs, for example, the Christian community has gone from approximately 160,000 to barely 1,000.
Tajikistan is a country not normally in the headlines, but the report noted that it is the only country in the world in which the law prohibits persons under the age of 18 from participating in public religious activities. Moreover, Muslim women are effectively barred from attending mosques.
The ongoing conflict in Nigeria is well-known. According to the report, during 2013 the extremist Boko Haram group killed more than 1,000 people. Both Christian and Muslims were targeted, often during religious services or immediately afterward.
The federal government was ineffective in preventing or quelling the violence, the report noted, and only occasionally investigated, prosecuted, or punished those responsible.
Severe restriction on religious freedom continued last year in North Korea and those who had contact with foreign missionaries were subject to harsh penalties, including execution.
The report noted the difficulty in obtaining information about what is going on in the country, but reports by the South Korean media and independent groups all point to extreme controls over religious freedom, with an unknown number imprisoned and even executed for crimes such as possessing a Bible.
The report only covers events up to the end of 2013. Since then the events in the Middle East and parts of Africa have worsened, particularly in Iraq. Such reports as these provide valuable information, the question remains as to whether anything will be done to ensure a greater respect for religious freedom.
Read the original news story here:
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