Christian groups cheer State Department's latest religious liberty report

Groups focused on persecution of Christians around the world welcomed the Oct. 14 release of the U.S. State Department’s latest report on international religious freedom, calling it an important official record of religious minorities’ suffering around the world.

The 2014 edition of the report labeled Islamic extremist groups the most severe religious persecutors, noted the “major problem” of increased anti-Semitism, and expressed concern about some governments using the threat of extremism “as an excuse for unreasonable religious restrictions.”

“There is an absolute and unequivocal need to give voice to the religiously oppressed in every land afraid to speak of what they believe in; who face death and live in fear, who worship in underground churches, mosques or temples, who feel so desperate that they flee their homes to avoid killing and persecution simply because they love God in their own way or question the existence of God,” said Rabbi David Saperstein, who heads the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom as an ambassador at large.

The State Department found the most serious threats to religious freedom came from non-state actors like rebel and terrorist groups. Secretary of State John Kerry addressed that “new phenomenon” by specifically condemning the actions of terrorist groups Islamic State (ISIS), al Qaeda, al-Shabaab, and Boko Haram.

“Under their control, captives have been given a choice between conversion or slavery or death,” Kerry said. “Children have been among the victims, and also among those forced to witness or participate in executions—sometimes even of their own family members. Entire populations of religious minority groups have been targeted for killing. Terrified young girls have been separated out by religion and sold into slavery.”

Advocates for religious minorities affirmed the importance of the report.

This formal, annual record of religious rights abuses can influence policy and diplomacy and inform average Americans, said Emily Fuentes, a spokeswoman for Open Doors USA. Before the reports became mandatory, people were generally unaware of the treatment of religious minorities abroad, she said.

The report also serves as the “official record” of religious freedom abuses and is used by political leaders, NGOs, and civilians to call for greater protections and freedoms, said Isaac Six of International Christian Concern.

“Governments and other groups may try and dismiss claims by victims, activists, and rights groups like ICC, but it’s not nearly as easy to dismiss an official report by the U.S. government,” Six said. “[It] ensures no one, including persecuting governments and groups, will be able to easily erase or rewrite the past.”

Travis Wussow of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) urged Christians to use the report to pray specifically for religious minorities and to join the ERLC in pressuring the State Department when it fails to designate countries of particular concern (CPC), Baptist Press reported. ICC also wants the State Department to designate eight more countries, including Pakistan, as CPCs.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the report is a reminder of the blessing of religious freedom found in the United States and called persecution “a moral and strategic national security concern.”

“With this blessing comes great responsibility to help ensure that others around the world can freely exercise their religious freedom as well,” Rubio said in a press release. He criticized the Obama administration for responding slowly and without “vision,” and the State Department for not using all the “tools it has to name and shame ‎violators of religious freedom.”