Religious persecution isn’t just something from the history books. The early 21st century will go down as an age of martyrs, and the situation is only getting worse. It’s hard to believe, but today, more than a billion people live under governments that suppress religious liberty.
In many nations, the lack of religious freedom is a matter of life and death. Believers and non-believers alike suffer as a result of intolerance.
The news is grim. Two Orthodox archbishops on a mission of mercy are kidnapped in Syria. The ancient Christian community of Iraq is alarmingly reduced in the wake of the war. Blasphemy laws in Pakistan are used to intimidate Christians and other religious minorities with the death penalty. And churches are bombed in Nigeria on Christmas and Easter. Shockingly, some 150,000 Christians are killed for their faith each year.
Buddhists in Tibet face government repression and torture; Boko Haram, an extremist Muslim group, attacks both Christians and mainstream Muslims in Nigeria, and Muslim homes are torched in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. Anti-Semitic harassment and persecution remain widespread.
According to the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, 75% of the world’s population lives in countries with high governmental or societal restrictions on religion. Christians face harassment in the largest number of countries, followed by Muslims and Jews.
This is not only terrible for believers, it’s unhealthy for societies. Brian Grim at the Pew Forum notes that “restriction of religious freedom correlates with diminished wellbeing and violent social conflict.”
Research supports Pope Francis‘ contention that “the shared protection of [freedom of religion] is also a guarantee of the entire community’s growth and development.”
Religious freedom is a good in its own right, and it also fosters the common good. It enables people of faith to contribute to their communities. We see faith in action in schools, clinics and humanitarian assistance projects throughout the world. Faith inspires people to serve their neighbors, enriching the public life we all share.
Faith communities are also vital participants in public debates and often help hold governments accountable to their people. From neighborhood parish schools to faith-based soup kitchens and immigrant resource centers, religious ministries are essential to the social fabric.
And religious freedom reinforces other freedoms — of conscience, of the press and of assembly, to name just a few.
You’d think that governments would encourage religious liberty as a way to help their societies advance. But as Pope Francis has said, “In the world today, freedom of religion is more often talked about rather than put into practice.” Instead, many restrict religion and feed societal animosities toward religious minorities in the name of “good order” and control.
The result is too often violence and social conflict.
I’m very proud that, according to Pew, “government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion are more than two times lower in countries where Catholics are the majority population than in countries where Catholics are a minority.”
Respect for religious freedom rooted in basic human dignity is a core Catholic teaching. Right now, Catholics are celebrating our Fortnight for Freedom, two weeks focused on the importance of religious liberty.
We know that religion is a positive force that contributes to the advancement of the human family. Let’s stand with our brothers and sisters around the world as they stand up for their faith and their basic human right to practice it. And let’s urge our own government to make freedom of religion a major goal of U.S. foreign policy — for the sake of believers and nonbelievers alike.
Dolan is archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York.
