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The tentacles of religious persecution in
today's world reach out from disputes of past eras and present political agendas,
prejudice and misunderstanding, to strangle communities of faith. In some countries,
political leaders encourage religious persecution through official policies or
deliberately provoke clashes between religious communities. In other countries,
authorities tacitly permit persecution by failing to secure the equal rights of all
believers. Persecution of Muslims in northern Burma has caused hundreds of thousands to flee their country. Christians are among the targets of persecution in China, while in Moscow antisemitic groups commit violent assaults and spread propaganda with impunity. In Iran, members of the Baha'i faith have been sentenced to death for refusing to renounce their beliefs. Others judged as heretics have been forced to divorce their spouses, denied all contact with their children, and barred from inheriting property, or executed. International silence while religious persecution rages anywhere encourages persecution elsewhere. "Who today remembers the extermination of the Armenians?" Hitler reportedly asked on the eve of his campaign to annihilate European Jews. Ottoman Turkish authorities directed the slaughter of more than one million Christian Armenians in 1915, but to this day, the Turkish Government refuses to acknowledge that the genocide even occurred. Recognizing both a cause of persecution and a route to reconciliation, the French Catholic bishops publicly declared in 1997 that their church had "acquiesc[ed] by its silence" in the deadly persecution of French Jews during World War II. The first half of the 20th Century handed down unequivocal lessons on mass destruction rooted in religious intolerance. Yet the lessons continue to be ignored. The killers of Shi'a Muslims in Sunni-dominated Pakistan go free, while non-Muslim minorities are singled out for harsh punishments based on Islamic law. Pakistan's law against blasphemy, a crime punishable by death in that country, has unleashed terror campaigns by local citizens against Christians and other religious minorities. The Government of Saudi Arabia has long denied the nation's Shi'a minority equal access to social services and employment opportunities. Saudi authorities forbid Shi'a proselytizing and routinely block construction of Shi'a mosques and community centers. In predominantly Shi'a Iran, any Muslim religious leader who opposes the government's interpretation of Islam risks arrest and detention. The Government of Sudan also attempts to impose its interpretation of Islam on all the nation's people, persecuting Christians, compelling conversion to Islam, and using torture and forced population relocation for further coercion. The Chinese Government conducts a brutal campaign against Tibetan Buddhists, as well as Christians and Muslims. Tibetan monks and nuns are arrested by Chinese authorities, tortured, and subjected to long periods of unjust imprisonment. Photographs of the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, are banned in Tibet. If Christian churches in China do not receive government approval and do not register with state authorities, they are closed. Security officers regularly harass, beat, and arrest members of unregistered Christian communities, particularly those who worship in house churches. In 1996, some 5,000 Chinese troops, along with armored vehicles and helicopters, surrounded a village to block the entry of Roman Catholic pilgrims. In a recent crackdown on Muslims in one western province, Chinese authorities closed over 100 Muslim schools and directed all teachers to "uphold atheism." Local governments in eastern Europe, sometimes maintaining close links to Orthodox churches, have instituted patterns of discrimination against non-Orthodox individuals and groups. In Russia, non-Orthodox missionaries are virtually banned in many localities. Romanian authorities have discriminated against Jehovah's Witnesses following harsh indictments of the religion by the Romanian Orthodox Church. Freedom of religion is not a prize for governments to award individuals who uphold officially approved beliefs or acceptable religious practices; freedom of religion is a universal human right. Act Now:Request and Read Act Locally Act
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National Coordinating Committee for UDHR50. |
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