For Your Information

October 29, 2012| By Katrina Lantos Swett

The following appeared in The Washington Post On Faith on October 27, 2012.

Across the globe, religion and belief continue to matter deeply in the lives of people and their cultures. From worship to prayer, births to funerals, weddings to holy days, almsgiving to thanksgiving, religion is a central source of identity, meaning, and purpose for billions of human beings.

Because religion matters, so does religious freedom. Simply stated, most people strive to practice their beliefs peacefully as they see fit. They seek to think as they please, believe or not believe as their conscience leads, and live out their convictions openly and peacefully.

Beginning with the1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rightsand the1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, nations around the world have freely assented tointernationalstandardswhich have enshrined this fundamental right.

On Saturday, the United States is celebrating this right by observing International Religious Freedom Day. This celebration marks the day in 1998 that theInternational Religious Freedom Actwas signed. The new law created an international religious freedom office in the U.S. State Department, headed by a newAmbassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, and theU.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, on which I serve.

An independent, bipartisan, federal government commission, USCIRF monitors religious freedom worldwide and makespolicy recommendationsto the president, secretary of state, and Congress.

Based on our monitoring, we have found that people continue to be denied this universal human right in all too many countries, with violations ranging from onerous rules and regulations to imprisonment, torture, and even murder.

Governments engage in or allow at least three kinds of violations of religious freedom: state hostility toward religion, state sponsorship of extremist religious ideology, and state failure to prevent and punish religious freedom violations. Through state hostility, individuals or groups are persecuted on account of their beliefs. State sponsorship involves governments promoting - including exporting - violent and extremist religious ideas that include calls to violate the religious freedom - and sometimes even the right to life -- of others. State failure refers to governments abandoning their duty to protect those whom others are targeting due to their beliefs, creating a climate of impunity in which religious dissenters are threatened, intimidated, or even murdered.

Two of the world's worst persecutors exemplify state hostility toward religion: Iran and China.

In Iran, a theocratic government has executed people for "waging war against God,” while relentlessly targeting reformers among the Shia Muslim majority, as well as religious minorities, including Sunni and Sufi Muslims, Baha'is, Zoroastrians, and Christians. The Iranian government also stirs up anti-Semitism by promoting Holocaust denial.

In China, the world's most populous nation, a Communist government suppresses disfavored religious groups, including Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, Falun Gong, the Protestant house church movement, and Catholics who resist government control of their affairs.

Saudi Arabia's autocratic monarchy practices state sponsorship of radical ideology which targets the religious freedom of others. The Saudi government continues to export, through textbooks and other literature, its own interpretation of Islam which teaches hatred and even violence toward individuals and religious groups.

The actions of the governments of Egypt and Pakistan exhibit state failure to protect the religious freedom of their citizens, often against religiously-related violence, creating a climate of impunity which invites further attacks.

Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian government has continued to tolerate widespread abuses against religious minorities, including Coptic Orthodox Christians and dissident Sunni Muslims. It also has failed to take adequate steps to bring the perpetrators of violence to justice, respond to virulent anti-Semitism in state-controlled media, or repeal restrictions on Baha'is and Shi'a Muslims.

In Pakistan, the government's longtime failure to protect religious freedom was on brutal display earlier last year with the assassinations of Salmaan Taseer, a Muslim who was governor of Punjab province, and Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian who was Pakistan's Minister for Minority Affairs and a longtime religious freedom advocate. The Pakistani Taliban's despicable assassination attempt on Malala Yousafzai for promoting women's education underscores the danger that others face: in the past 12 months, extremists reportedly have killed as many as 300 Shia Muslims, while Ahmadis and Christians continue to be targeted for violence.

Clearly the landscape for religious freedom around the world is challenging. According to aPew Research studyreleased in August, 75 percent of the world's population lives in countries that perpetrate or tolerate serious religious freedom abuses. In other words, three out of every four people on earth live in a hostile and repressive environment for the practice of faith.

Given the dire situation for freedom of religion or belief, the United States must continue to play a vital role in defending the defenseless and pressing for the release of the oppressed. Our government should redouble its efforts toseek changes in oppressive systemsso that next year, there is no increase in this shocking statistic. The desire for change that pulses through many countries, especially in the Arab world, presents an opportunity for the United States to quietly support such progress, for example, in provisions that wouldprotect religious freedomin the constitutions that several nations are drafting.

Religious freedom is a pivotal human right. For humanitarian purposes alone, it must be defended. But there's another reason the world should care. According to a number of studies, nations that honor and protect this right are more peaceful, stable, and prosperous than those that do not. Nations that trample on this freedom provide fertile ground for poverty and insecurity, and violent, radical movements and activities.

As International Religious Freedom Day approaches, let us pay heed, and redouble our efforts on behalf of this precious human right.

Katrina Lantos Swett is the chair of theU.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

To interview a USCIRF Commmissioner, please contact Samantha Schnitzer at [email protected] or (202) 786-0613.

For Your Information

10/25/2012| By Katrina Lantos Swett , Mary Ann Glendon and Robert P. George

The following op-ed appeared in Roll Call on October 25, 2012.

In the aftermath of the recent controversy over the notorious anti-Muslim film and the reaction to it around the world, now may be the time to step back, view the big picture and consider how best to move forward.

At the height of the controversy, there seemed to be two primary responses to the film. First, there were those who insisted that acknowledging its offensiveness to Muslims necessarily amounted to appeasement of those who commit violent acts or demand speech restrictions. Second, there were others who asserted that robust condemnation of the violence or unwavering defense of the right of freedom of expression must imply insensitivity to Muslims. While both responses were vocal and well-publicized, countless Muslims and non-Muslims alike categorically rejected both stances.

As members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, we find ourselves in a unique position to offer our views. In accordance with its Congressional charter, USCIRF monitors religious freedom conditions abroad, reports on the treatment of people of faith (or no faith) and makes recommendations to the U.S. government on how to deal with abusers of these individuals and their communities. No organization has taken a more consistent or serious stand for the rights and dignity of members of every religious community.

Rooted in USCIRF's work is a bedrock belief in what Article 1 of the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims:

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

The implication is clear. All human beings, regardless of faith, should be accorded dignity and respect as fellow seekers of truth who strive to answer the call of conscience.

Those who genuinely embrace this principle rightly recoil at attempts to denigrate the faith of others. They are driven by a passion to defend, rather than a desire to appease. Moreover, they are consistent in their defense of others. While it is impossible to protest against every incident that offends believers, they are willing to stand together with people of all beliefs against those who wound and humiliate through images and words. Consistency is a strong antidote to an appeasement charge.

On the other hand, it is not insensitive to recognize that hateful images and words, while detestable, are an outcome of the right to freedom of expression. Not only is this freedom a pivotal human right unto itself, it is difficult to uphold the freedom to practice one's religion without also allowing the freedom to express one's beliefs. The two rights are bound inextricably together. This realization should lead men and women of good will to use their own right to freedom of expression to counter expressions of hate with those of tolerance in the struggle for hearts and minds in the public square.

Nor it is insensitive to condemn any and all violence perpetrated in the name of any religion as the ultimate assault on human dignity. Rather, to remain silent or to proffer excuses for the violence is to betray the vast majority of Muslims and non-Muslims who abhor the shedding of blood. Being silent demoralizes efforts against violent radicals seeking to hijack faith.

Make no mistake: Hatred and vilification of people and their communities on account of their beliefs is an offense to our common humanity. We must counter it, not by surrendering precious rights or committing brutal violence, but through a ringing reaffirmation of freedom, unleashing the power of our pen, the truth and justice of our words, and the strength of our unity, as we combat the darkness of inhuman hatred together.

Katrina Lantos Swett and Mary Ann Glendon serve as chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Robert P. George serves as a USCIRF commissioner.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact Samantha Schnitzer at [email protected] or (202) 786-0613.