It’s one thing to produce an annual report on international religious freedom.
It is something far different to take the information in that report and call out the nations, predominantly in the Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist worlds, that actively discriminate against religious freedom. The world is witnessing a greater degree of discrimination against religious minorities in those parts of the world, and more often than not that discrimination is against Christians.
"Religious freedom extends way beyond mere tolerance," Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters at a news conference when he released to report in mid-October. The concept, he said as reported by the Associated Press, "demands that the practitioners of one faith understand that they have no right to coerce others into submission, conversion or silence, or to literally take their lives because of their beliefs."
So, it is not nearly enough for Kerry to release the congressionally-mandated report with all of the ugly details of terrorism and nations that use blasphemy and apostasy laws against religious minorities. It is the 17th year this report has been released publicly under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). The report also identifies spots where governments displayed hostility against religious minorities, frequently directed at Christians.
Kerry must display some courage and boldness to identify the worst offenders of religious freedom and not pay mere lip service to defending the freedom of conscience and beliefs with a report and a speech. With all the world sees occurring in the Muslim world, we cannot fear what other nations will think of the United States.
The 15-page Executive Summary of the U.S. State Department report on international religious freedom begins the ugly trek with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It states that when ISIS rolled into Mosul, which is modern-day Nineveh from the Bible, Christians were given the order to convert, pay a ruinous tax to ISIS, or die. The report’s narrative describes the kidnapping of a woman’s 3-year-old daughter from her arms at an ISIS checkpoint. To this day no one knows what happened to the child.
The U.S. State Department’s report also exposes Shiite attacks on Sunnis in Iraq and Boko Haram’s targeting of Christians, and even some Muslims, in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Along with slaughtering Christians and others, Boko Haram has also engaged in attacks on churches and mosques. Since this report is from 2014, it identifies Boko Haram’s kidnapping of more than 200 girls in spring 2014, who have yet to be freed, although some of the girls escaped. Boko Haram declared its allegiance to ISIS earlier this year.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called on Kerry to be tougher on certain nations, specifically Pakistan. The IFRA allows the U.S. State Department to identify “countries of particular concern,” or CPC.
“In July 2014, the State Department designated nine nations as CPCs under IRFA: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. USCIRF’s 2015 annual report, released in April, recommended that these countries be re-designated as CPCs, and also called for eight additional designations: Central African Republic, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, and Vietnam,” a news release from the USCIRF states.
“USCIRF urges the State Department to continue the current nine CPC designations,” said Chairman Robert George in the news release. “We also urge the State Department to further expand its CPC list to reflect the severe violations occurring in other countries, such as Pakistan, which USCIRF has called the worst situation in the world for religious freedom for countries not currently designated by the U.S. government as CPCs. The just-released IRF Report leaves no doubt that the egregious nature of the violations in Pakistan warrant a CPC designation.”
The State Department international religious freedom report states the following about Pakistan:
"Government policies did not afford equal protection to members of minority religious groups, and due to discriminatory legislation such as blasphemy laws and laws designed to marginalize the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, minorities often were afraid to profess freely their religious beliefs. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), police registered 12 new cases under blasphemy laws during the year and the courts sentenced three individuals to death, six individuals to life imprisonment, and three individuals to two-years of imprisonment for blasphemy. The government did not carry out any executions for blasphemy during the year. The government announced it would create a national council for minorities with Christian, Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh representatives."
Meanwhile, a Muslim mob in Pakistan accused a Christian couple of desecrating the Quran in November 2014. That Muslim mob burned the couple alive in a brick kiln in Punjab province.
Also, Walid Shoebat started a group called Rescue Christians, which has people in strategic spots, including Pakistan, attempting to remove Christians from conditions of slavery, rape, and torture. Shoebat’s team reports there are about 20,000 Pakistani families that are enslaved making bricks at concentration-camp-style locations in Pakistan. If Shoebat’s team is accurate, does anyone really think no one in the Pakistani government can possibly know this is going on? Worse, they have been doing nothing to stop it.
It seems nonsensical for anyone to suggest Pakistan doesn’t deserve some negative attention because the nation has much work to do to shift this persecution of Christians and other religious minorities.
Also, David Saperstein, the State Department’s Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, casts light on Vietnam.
The report states the following regarding Vietnam:
"Police, local authorities, and hired men in Binh Duong Province began a campaign of harassment against an unregistered Mennonite group in June, according to their pastors. Church leaders reported government forces throughout the year raided Bible classes, detained and beat congregants, and harassed members of the religious community. Reports also state that hired men prevented the movement of church members, vandalized a Mennonite church, and barred followers from leaving their houses."
"In my travels to Vietnam, I saw firsthand how religious groups are forced to undergo onerous and arbitrary registration processes to legally operate," Saperstein said, as reported by the Christian Post.
All of this also comes at a time when U.S. Rep. Jeffrey Fortenberry, R-Neb., has proposed House Congressional Resolution No. 75, which has nearly 150 bipartisan co-sponsors now, which calls on the Congress to call the actions in Iraq and Syria against Christians and religious minorities to be called a “genocide.” There’s no reason House Speaker Paul Ryan doesn’t bring this to a swift vote for the U.S. House of Representatives to make a statement.
This is the least the U.S. House and Senate can do. They also should maintain pressure on Kerry to follow through on the request by the USCIRF.
The United States of America must stop issuing an obligatory annual report on religious freedom if its leaders refuse to display some moral clarity and outrage for the events in the Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist worlds.
Anyone can talk tough. The question is will you act tough when circumstances demand it. We are well past the point of circumstances demanding it.
Curt W. Olson is a former professional journalist who served as an Editorial Page Editor at a newspaper in the Cleveland, Ohio area. He also covered multiple government and education beats, Religion, and served as a copy editor. He lives with his family in South Carolina.