U.S. religious freedom report documents global oppression

Conservative U.S. lawmakers and religious liberty groups called on the government to play a more active role in ensuring global religious freedom after the State Department yesterday released its 2015 International Religious Freedom report.

The report covered nearly 200 countries and raised concern over state-enforced religious suppression in the form of regulations and harsh blasphemy laws. It also addressed the religious freedom threat posed by extremist groups.

“At its heart, this report seeks to demonstrate all that is at stake,” Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “We believe so strongly in international religious freedom for all because it’s something we value very deeply for ourselves as Americans.”

In Angola, no religious group has registered with the country’s Ministry of Justice and Human Rights since 2004 due to the daunting but mandatory requirements implemented that year, the report said. It noted other oppressive regulatory laws in Vietnam, Eritrea, and Russia, where a 2,500-member Jehovah’s Witness congregation faces a closure threat after the government accused it of “extremist activity.”

According to the center for Research and Security Studies in Pakistan, more than 62 people have been killed by mob violence, viewed as a justified punishment for people accused of desecrating the Quran or insulting the Prophet Mohammad. Countries such as Mauritania, Sudan, and Pakistan have handed down prison and death sentences for blasphemy and apostasy allegations, the report added.

“These laws not only harm their victims, but also, particularly evident in the Muslim context, they ensure that the voices of moderates are not heard, and that the public discourse over what Islam requires of its adherents is dominated by the extremists,” Thomas Farr, president of the Religious Freedom Institute, said in a written statement.

The State Department report also highlighted non-state extremist groups that target religious minorities, such as Islamic State and Boko Haram, which it identified as “the most egregious abusers of religious freedom in the world.”

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., lauded the report’s release, but called on the Obama administration to act on it.

“Reports like this contain useful information, but if it does not lead to real action in defense of those being oppressed, America will have missed an opportunity to take a firm stand in support of the universal human right of religious freedom, and hold accountable those who refuse to respect it,” Rubio said.

Rubio and the Religious Freedom Institute called on the Senate to pass the amendment to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, which already passed the House with complete bipartisan support. The Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act aims to improve the U.S. ability to better respond to today’s violations of religious freedom violations.

“HR 1150 leaves little room for doubt,” said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who authored the bill. “It provides the administration with added authority and prods them to do more to address the national security implications of religious violence and religious persecution.”