Published by CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. www.cqresearcher.com Religious Repression Should U.S. support of religious freedom be stronger? early 75 percent of the world’s inhabitants — 5.1 billion people — live in countries that restrict religious freedom, a fundamental human right N under international law. Draconian antiblasphemy laws, threats of imprisonment, physical attacks and the desecration of holy sites are among the tools used to stifle religious expression . Many foreign policy experts see religious oppression as a serious threat to global stability. Advocates in the United States are pushing Refugees from Sudan attend church services in a policymakers to make religious freedom a higher priority, arguing refugee camp in newly independent South Sudan in July 2012. After the south voted for independence in that promoting it abroad will help defuse tensions and foster 2011, following a 22-year civil war, thousands of Sudanese Christians in the largely Muslim north fled south, where the new constitution protects peace and democracy. But others say that making religion a focus religious freedom. Sudan’s imposition of draconian Islamic law, or Sharia, sparked the war. of foreign policy is a mistake because it is too complex and volatile an issue. Meanwhile, some countries, such as newly inde - I pendent South Sudan, have taken noteworthy steps to broaden THIS REPORT N THE ISSUES ....................935 religious rights. S BACKGROUND ................941 I CHRONOLOGY ................943 D AT ISSUE ........................949 E CQ Researcher • Nov. 1, 2013 • www.cqresearcher.com CURRENT SITUATION ........950 Volume 23, Number 39 • Pages 933-956 OUTLOOK ......................951 RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR BIBLIOGRAPHY ................954 EXCELLENCE N AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD THE NEXT STEP ..............955 RELIGIOUS REPRESSION Nov. 1, 2013 THE ISSUES SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS Volume 23, Number 39 • Is religious repression on Repression Most Severe in MANAGING EDITOR: Thomas J. Billitteri 935 the rise? 936 Middle East, North Africa [email protected] • Is rising fundamentalism to Persecution is more widespread ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS: Lyn Garrity, blame for religious repression where restrictions are greatest. lyn.garrity@ sagepub.com, Kathy Koch , and persecution? [email protected] • Are Christians the main Most of World Lacks 937 Religious Freedom SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: targets of religious repression Thomas J. Colin Some 5 billion people live in [email protected] and persecution? countries with severe restric - tions on religion. CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Sarah Glazer, Peter Katel , Reed Karaim, Barbara Mantel, BACKGROUND Christians, Muslims Domi - Tom Price, Jennifer Weeks 940 nate World Religions SENIOR PROJECT EDITOR: Olu B. Davis 941 Holy Wars Most social hostilities occur Christians and Muslims where the government favors FACT CHECKER: Michelle Harris fought over Jerusalem. one religion. U.N. Actions Chronology 942 The international body de - 943 Key events since 1939. clared religious freedom a basic right. Building Peace by 944 Protecting Holy Sites An Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. Cold War “You can bring two sides to - 942 VICE PRESIDENT AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, Communists sought to stifle gether and make them stand HIGHER EDUCATION GROUP: religion. up for each other.” Michele Sordi Post-Communist Era Conflict Still Threatens EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ONLINE LIBRARY AND 944 Serbians waged a campaign 946 South Sudan REFERENCE PUBLISHING: of ethnic cleansing. “One thing they got right is Todd Baldwin freedom of religion.” 945 Modern Extremism Copyright © 2013 CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Pub - The Taliban imposed dracon - 948 U.S. Cites Worst Violators lications, Inc. SAGE reserves all copyright and other ian Islamic law. of Religious Freedom rights herein, unless pre vi ous ly spec i fied in writing. Fifteen countries make the list. No part of this publication may be reproduced electronically or otherwise, without prior written CURRENT SITUATION 949 At Issue: permission. Un au tho rized re pro duc tion or trans mis - Should Western countries sion of SAGE copy right ed material is a violation of U.S. Foreign Policy make religious freedom a federal law car ry ing civil fines of up to $100,000. 950 Activists seek closer link foreign policy priority? between religion and U.S. CQ Press is a registered trademark of Congressional foreign policy. Quarterly Inc. FOR FURTHER RESEARCH CQ Researcher (ISSN 1056-2036) is printed on acid- View Abroad free paper. Pub lished weekly, except: (March wk. 5) 950 For More Information The European Union issued 953 (May wk. 4) (July wk. 1) (Aug. wks. 3, 4) (Nov. wk. its first guidelines on religious Organizations to contact. 4) and (Dec. wks. 3, 4). Published by SAGE Publica - freedom. Bibliography tions, Inc., 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. 954 Selected sources used. Annual full-service subscriptions start at $1,054. For OUTLOOK pricing, call 1-800-818-7243. To purchase a CQ Re - The Next Step searcher report in print or electronic format (PDF), 955 Additional articles . visit www.cqpress.com or call 866-427-7737. Single Democracy and Reform reports start at $15. Bulk purchase discounts and 951 Egypt is debating the role of Citing CQ Researcher electronic-rights licensing are also available. Periodicals religion in its constitution. 955 Sample bibliography formats. postage paid at Thousand Oaks, California, and at additional mailing offices . POST MAST ER: Send ad dress chang es to CQ Re search er , 2300 N St., N.W., Suite 800, Wash ing ton, DC 20037. Cover: Getty Images/Paula Bronstein 934 CQ Researcher Religious Repression BY MICHELLE JOHNSON of religious intolerance, rang - THE ISSUES ing from discrimination against Catholics to bans on Jews join - aaloula was once an ing country clubs, enrolling in oasis of calm in college or running for politi - M Syria’s civil war. The cal office in some states. And town of 17 churches and holy anti-Muslim sentiment spiked relics is one of the last places after the Sept. 11, 2001, ter - where people still speak Ara - rorist attacks. maic, the language of Jesus. But partly because of its At the start of the war near - First Amendment guarantee ly three years ago, the town’s of religious freedom and its religious leaders — Muslim and tradition of religious and cul - Christian — vowed to keep tural plurality, experts say, the peace, said Mahmoud Diab, i the United States generally k u Maaloula’s Sunni imam. But in o has avoided the kind of egre - s early September, al Qaeda- e gious religious persecution D d linked rebels attacked, shout - e playing out in many parts of l a ing “We are from the al-Nusra h the world. ( See map, p. 936. ) K / Front and have come to make s For instance: e life miserable for the Crusaders,” g • In Egypt, Christians have a m I an Islamist term for Christians. been the primary target of re - y t The rebels killed at least 10 t ligious violence, particularly e G Christians, some for refusing / since the July military ouster P to convert to Islam. 1 F of President Mohamed Morsi, A Nearly three-fourths of the Mourners in Cairo, Egypt, carry the coffins of four a key member of the Islamist world’s people live in places Coptic Christians who were gunned down at a wedding Muslim Brotherhood, which with “high” or “very high” de - on Oct. 20, 2013. Since the July ouster of President blames Christians for his po - Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Islamist Muslim grees of restrictions on reli - Brotherhood, Christians have been the primary target of litical failure. gious freedom, according to religious violence fomented by the Brotherhood, • In Nigeria, the radical the Pew Research Center’s which blames Christians for Morsi’s ouster. Islamist group Boko Haram Forum on Religion and Pub - has killed more than 3,500 lic Life, a think tank in Washington. the best way to defuse conflict and in people since July 2009, including some Such repression can range from re - turn protect U.S. interests abroad. 3 40 university students massacred in strictions on worship to government But others worry that an overempha - September as they slept in their dor - complicity in mob violence against re - sis on religion could alienate allies or mitory. 4 The group believes Western ligious minorities. 2 Religious harass - have other unintended consequences. education is a sin. ment also includes physical assaults, Religious intolerance is “as big as oil, • In India, Hindu nationalists are arrests, detentions, desecration of holy as nuclear weapons. It’s a huge threat, blamed for violence against religious sites and discrimination against reli - and underestimated, and not understood,” minorities, including a Christmas 2007 gious groups in employment, educa - says religion scholar Kelly Clark, a se - attack in Orissa state that destroyed tion and housing, according to Pew. nior fellow at the Kaufman Interfaith In - 55 Christian churches and 600 houses. 5 Religious persecution has destabi - stitute at Grand Valley State University • In Myanmar (formerly Burma), lized the social and political order in in Grand Rapids, Mich., and author of extremist Buddhist monks are lead - many parts of the world and con - Abraham’s Children: Liberty and Toler - ing what human rights groups call an tributed to numerous geopolitical con - ance in an Age of Religious Conflict. “Re - “ethnic cleansing” campaign against flicts, say advocates of religious free - ligion moves people’s passion. Some - Rohingya Muslims. The United Na - dom. They want the U.S. Department times you just need a tiny bit to push tions estimates that some 140,000 of State to push foreign governments people over the edge into violence.” people have been displaced by vio - harder to loosen restrictions on reli - The United States has experienced lence, and tens of thousands of oth - gion, arguing that greater freedom is its own, sometimes violent, incidents ers have fled by boat.