Charles C. Haynes said First Amendment: Without religious freedom, there will be no lasting peace ------------ On Dec. 10, 1948, the nations of the world gathered at the United Nations to adopt the Universal Declaration of Rights, an American-inspired proclamation that launched the modern human rights movement. Voting in the shadow of the Holocaust, religious freedom was prominent among the inalienable rights that the world agreed must be guarded for all people. According to Article 18 of the Declaration, “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” Sixty-six years later, however, 5.8 billion people—76 percent of the world’s population—live in countries with a high or very high level of restrictions on religious freedom, an estimate based on the Pew Research Center’s most recent study of religious hostilities and oppression across the world. The abject failure of governments to uphold the Universal Declaration has had dire consequences in the 21st century. It is no exaggeration to say that denial of religious freedom is today a leading cause of repression, division and conflict across the world. Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar fled by the thousands in the wake of new requirements by the government designed to force the Rohingya out of the country. Many Rohingya are already confined to concentration camps and are, in the words of one aid worker, “treated like animals. Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Center
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 09:16:35 +0000
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