Blasphemy laws criminalize expression that insults or offends religious doctrines. Such laws are often used to restrict freedom of religion or belief. As of 2020, 84 countries still had blasphemy laws. The severity of a blasphemy law on the books, however, is only the beginning of the story. The enforcement of such laws—either government enforcement or mob violence—undermines human rights, including freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression.

Joelle Fiss and Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum are the authors of the USCIRF report “Violating Rights: Enforcing the World’s Blasphemy Laws,” released in December 2020. They join us to discuss the findings of their report, and the impact of blasphemy laws on religious freedom.

Featuring:
Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

Joelle Fiss, Member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief

Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum, Associate Professor of Clinical Law at Cardozo School of Law

USCIRF Condemns Chinese Government’s Sanction on Former Commissioner

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) strongly condemns the Chinese government for imposing sanctions on former USCIRF Commissioner Johnnie Moore. The sanctions were reportedly imposed in retaliation for the U.S. Department of State’s 2020 International Religious Freedom Report and subsequent sanction against a Chinese official for abuses against Falun Gong practitioners. That State Department report is entirely separate and independent from USCIRF, which released its own annual report last month.

“The Chinese government’s most recent sanction targeting USCIRF’s work defending the religious freedom of the Chinese people is counterproductive, at best,” stated USCIRF Chair Anurima Bhargava. “It will only draw more international attention to the atrocities and horrors being perpetrated by the Chinese government against the Uyghurs, Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, and countless other Chinese citizens.”

USCIRF has consistently criticized the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and called on the U.S. government and the international community to hold it accountable for its systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, including genocidal policies against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. In March, USCIRF applauded the coordinated sanctions that the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union imposed against Chinese officials under the Global Magnitsky Act.

USCIRF has also paid particular attention to the plight of religious prisoners in China. In December 2020, former Commissioner Moore adopted Hong Kong religious freedom advocate and democracy activist Jimmy Lai through the Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project.

“Johnnie Moore joins a growing list of government officials and human rights activists—including myself and former USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin—who the brutal Chinese Communist regime has sanctioned for criticizing its oppressive policies and religious freedom violations. This sanction is a badge of honor,” USCIRF Vice Chair Tony Perkins added. “We will continue to work unflinchingly with our international partners to hold the CCP accountable for its atrocious religious freedom violations.”

In its 2021 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended China for designation as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. 

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].

It’s been 50 years since the Turkish government closed the Greek Orthodox Theological School of Halki, also known as the Halki Seminary. The school continues to be unable to educate or train clergy in a country with a historical but dwindling Greek Orthodox community. The Halki Seminary’s continued closure poses an obstacle to the survival of that community within Turkey.

The international community—including U.S. presidents and other high-ranking officials from the United States and Europe—have joined the Ecumenical Patriarchate in calling upon the Turkish government to reopen the Halki Seminary to no avail. Although Turkish officials have at times appeared inclined to support the reopening of the seminary, none have taken any concrete steps to do so.

This week we are joined by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, to discuss the obstacles that the Ecumenical Patriarchate faces in Turkey today.

Read the Turkey chapter of the 2021 Annual Report

Also available in Turkish and Kurdish (Kurmanji)

Featuring:
Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF
Archbishop Elpidophoros, Head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America