Time to Take Religious Freedom Seriously | Philip F. Lawler | Editorial | Catholic World Report | April 2011
Christians in the West must press their government leaders for action against persecution.
Two years into his administration, President Barack Obama still has not filled the post of roving US ambassador for religious freedom. Meanwhile in Pakistan the government’s only Christian cabinet minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, was assassinated for suggesting that the country’s blasphemy law should be changed.
Urged to pass a resolution condemning the persecution of Christians, the European Parliament instead approved a vague statement, worded in general terms, decrying intolerance of all faiths. Meanwhile in Egypt Copts were slaughtered, in China “house churches” were raided by police, in Nigeria a Christian village was torched.
In Iraq, Chaldean Christians are hunted down and executed, gangland-style, by Islamic zealots. In Afghanistan a Christian man faces the death penalty for the “crime” of conversion from the Islamic faith. And these are countries where American troops are shedding their blood in defense of freedom!
The Pope’s Plea
In his message for the World Day of Peace this year, Pope Benedict gave the world’s leaders a much-needed reminder that religious liberty is an essential aspect of human freedom. It follows logically that to pursue freedom without acknowledging religious liberty is to embark on a hopeless quest. In fact, the Holy Father observed, it is a downright dangerous quest, because false conceptions of freedom beget new threats to human rights, new threats to peace.
Unfortunately the leaders of the Western world have not yet recognized the force of the Pontiff’s argument. The policy-makers of Europe and America cling to the illusion that they can somehow promote freedom, both at home and abroad, while ignoring religious affairs. This approach will not work. It cannot work. It is a recipe missing an essential ingredient.
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