Sept. 14, 2012
Religious freedom, which Americans tend to take for granted, "is under often violent attack in other nations with terrible human consequences," said Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, speaking at a Sept. 12 conference on international religious freedom at The Catholic University of America.
Cardinal Dolan, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), was one of several speakers addressing the repression, often brutal, of religious liberty around the world as part of "International Religious Freedom: An Imperative for Peace and the Common Good."
Although scheduled many months in advance, the conference came the day after the American ambassador to Libya and several other Americans were killed as a result of reported religious violence, noted Dolan.
"We come to this event with a sense of urgency," he said. "Yesterday's events in Libya and Egypt point to what is at stake. We need to be respectful of other religious traditions at the same time that we unequivocally proclaim that violence in the name of religion is wrong."
He said that 150,000 Christians are killed for their faith every year, "meaning we have 17 new martyrs every hour of every day."
Other speakers throughout the day-long conference also addressed this sense of urgency. The event was cosponsored by the USCCB, the University and its Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies, and Catholic Relief Services.
Three archbishops spoke of the situation at three international hotspots: Nigeria, Iraq, and Cuba. Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, a country that is composed almost equally of Christians and Muslims, said that although the population lives together in general harmony, a small group is now using terrorist tactics against churches.
"Although the members are few and constitute a small minority, they are a real danger to the entire Nigerian community because they are fanatics, with warped logic and twisted minds," he said. "They have almost succeeded in polarizing our nation along religious lines, hitting at our fragile harmony built over many years of patient efforts and trying to make us enemies of one another."
Onaiyekan added that the Nigerian constitution guarantees religious freedom, and that the government needs to step up to enforce its own laws.
Speaking on the situation in Iraq was Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, apostolic nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York , and on Cuba was Archbishop Thomas Wenski, archbishop of Miami.
Maryann Cusimano Love, associate professor of international relations at CUA and former fellow, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, participated in the plenary panel "What Can The Church Do To Defend International Religious Freedom?" She noted the "face of religious freedom" is female. The vast majority of victims of religious violence are women and children, she said, because they are the ones sitting in the pews. Studies report that women tend to be more religious than men, she said.
Additionally, there is a correlation between religious freedom and security issues. "The war on religious freedom and the war on women are the same war," she said. Religious repression causes violence.
"People risk their lives for what we take for granted every weekend," said John Carr, resident fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and former executive director, USCCB Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development. Everyone must do what they can to defend religious freedom, he said.
Also speaking during the conference were Thomas Farr, director of the Religious Freedom Project, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University, and Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, on the topic of U.S. policy and international religious freedom.
Farr spoke of a case of religious persecution currently in the news, of the 14-year-old Christian Pakistani girl with Down Syndrome, who was accused of blasphemy and put in prison, though later released on bail.
There is a danger here that is being missed, said Farr. "Across the world, we are seeing increasing levels of violence against anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim, accused of blasphemy, defamation of Islam, or apostasy," he said, and referred to this week's murders of Americans in Libya and the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo by those offended by a film insulting the prophet Mohammed.
No one should insult the sacred beliefs of another, he said, "but the malevolent idea that the proper response to defamation of religion is criminal prosecution, let alone violence or murder, is a dangerous problem in the Muslim-majority world. My religion is insulted regularly by The New York Times and The Washington Post. I frequently am outraged. But I try to respond with my voice or my pen. That is the only way people with deep differences can live together in a civilized society."
"In countries around the world, religious institutions of every faith experience violence and brutal repression," said Steve Schneck, director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies. The co-sponsored conference on international challenges to religious freedom, he added, "represents the very heart of this University's mission, serving both Church and country."
The conference concluded later that evening with a keynote address by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, apostolic nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva.
"Freedom of religion is a global concern," he said. There is no doubt that religious freedom is under stress worldwide and that the "age of the martyrs is still with us."
Tomasi said that a Pew Research Center, Forum on Religion & Public Life, study found that 70 percent of the world's population live in countries with "high restrictions on religious beliefs and practices, the brunt of which often falls on religious minorities - including, in some cases, people who are secular or non-religious," he said.
All suffer when religious repression is present. Freedom of religion is, he said, the "human right, that, in the end, guarantees all other human rights."
For more on the conference, see
http://iprcua.com/2012/09/12/international-religious-liberty .