Human rights are under siege in many nations. Three of the world’s most important countries, China, Russia, and India, are moving backward on political freedom, though the last at least still holds free elections. All three also are increasingly violating religious liberty. And they are not alone. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recently released its latest report, which concluded that religious repression is rampant.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem. Religious minorities remain convenient scapegoats, which was sadly evident in 2020. USCIRF observed that its “monitoring revealed that in some countries, already marginalized religious minorities faced official and/or societal stigmatization, harassment, and discrimination for allegedly causing or spreading the virus.” Moreover, those imprisoned for their religious beliefs were vulnerable to increased health risks due to the disease’s spread in overcrowded prisons.
China ramps up campaign against religious freedom
China (MNN) China continues its crackdown on religious freedom.
New rules require all religious workers to pledge allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party and resist foreign interference.
The government pushed Christians further into isolation
last week, shutting down Bible apps and online Christian groups.
Without intervention, China will soon be “competing with North Korea as the worst place to live as a Christian,” Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab predicted
on Wednesday. Co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response, Ochab advocates extensively for persecuted ethnic and religious minorities worldwide.
China topped
Of the countries named each year by USCIRF as egregious violators of religious liberty, one is in a category by itself. Communist China doesn’t only deny its citizens basic human rights, including the right to seek and worship God. It is also asserting itself as a new authoritarian model for developing natio
Repealing blasphemy laws impossible, Pakistani Christians told
Event to commemorate martyr bishop is told that Christians must learn to manage draconian laws
Supporters of religious group Aalmi Majlis Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nubuwwat march during a rally in Peshawar in July 2020 in support of Khalid Khan, who shot dead a man accused of blasphemy in a courtroom. (Photo: AFP)
Catholic priests and nuns at a recent debate on minority rights urged Christians in Pakistan to avoid demanding the repeal of blasphemy laws.
“It is impossible to abolish blasphemy laws. Our struggle to end it will fail. It is wrong to raise such slogans. It creates unrest. We are heralds of hope but we should not give false hope to others. People don’t listen,” said Father Khalid Rashid Asi, director of the Diocesan Commission for Harmony and Interfaith Dialogue in Faisalabad Diocese.
The report examined anti-Semitism in 11 European countries Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom and sought to answer the fundamental question of: “Are Jews able to live openly and freely as Jews, in whatever manner they wish?”
By Faygie Holt
Nearly a dozen European countries are “insufficient” in their efforts to meet the challenges of anti-Semitism, a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom found.
“Sadly, 2020 was another difficult year for global anti-Semitism” between COVID-19 unleashing an “avalanche” of anti-Semitic propaganda to physical attacks on Jews worldwide, said Gary Bauer, a commissioner with the organization, as well as president of the American Values think tank.
The clock is ticking for Pakistan s beleaguered Christian nurses
Christian rights activists must continue the peaceful struggle of Bishop John Joseph to end the misuse of blasphemy laws
Christian staff nurse Maryam Lal (left) and Catholic nursing student Newsh Arooj were arrested on blasphemy charges in Faisalabad last month. (Photo supplied) Religiously charged staff of Lahore mental hospital take over the building. This headline may seem like something ripped straight out of a psychological horror film, but it actually happened on April 27 when Muslim nurses occupied a chapel at the hospital that was used for Sunday services after they accused a Christian nurse of committing blasphemy by sending an objectionable video to a nurses’ unofficial WhatsApp group.