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Religious persecution persists

01 Nov 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Jesus promises in this Sunday's gospel that those who are "persecuted for the sake of righteousness" will be blessed. Around the world persecution of religious minorities continues to be a serious problem, according to the latest U.S. State Department report on global religious freedom. The report, released Monday, named North Korea, Iran, Myanmar, China, Sudan, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan among the worst offenders, placing them on a watch list put out earlier this year. Officials said the latest review would help determine whether they stay on the list, which could leave some open to additional U.S. sanctions. Michael Posner, the State Department's top official for democracy and human rights, said President Barack Obama's call this year for a new beginning between the United States and Muslims did not mean sidelining religious liberty. "Religious freedom is a fundamental right, a social good, a source of stability, and a key to international security," Posner said in the introduction to the report. Posner praised interfaith dialogue efforts promoted by Jordan, Spain, and other countries. But religious repression and discrimination remained huge problems worldwide. "We're fully aware that even in countries with robust legal safeguards, including the United States, we're not immune from acts of intolerance," he said. The annual report, compiled from sources including journalists, academics, nongovernmental organizations, and human rights and religious groups, provides a long list of both setbacks and progress on religious freedom around the world. Source: An article by Andrew Quinn for Reuters

religious freedom state department persecution religious minorities michael posner
Italians are cross with crucifix ruling

08 Nov 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Christ came to take away sin by his sacrifice on the cross, the Sunday reading from the Letter to the Hebrews tells us. In a decision that has angered many Italians, a European court Tuesday ruled that displaying crucifixes in the country's schools violated the principle of secular education. The European Court of Human Rights said Italy's practice of displaying crucifixes in classrooms "restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions, and the right of children to believe or not to believe." The court ordered the Italian state to pay damages to a woman who had lodged a complaint with the court in 2006, alleging the display of crucifixes had prevented her from raising her children according to secular values. The court didn't order Italy to take crucifixes off the walls, but the decision, if upheld, would be binding on Italy as one of 47 countries that have signed the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. In recent years a divide has opened in Europe between countries that strictly interpret the separation between church and state and those where Christian traditions still hold considerable sway. Generations of Italian children have grown up studying in classrooms with crucifixes on the wall. Many public schools continue to offer the "religion hour," an optional course on Catholic teachings. Italy has changed in the past two decades, however, from a country that exported migrants to one that has accepted about 4.5 million economic refugees and asylum seekers from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, raising tensions with regard to questions of religious diversity. "The presence of the crucifix could be . . . disturbing for pupils who practiced other religions or were atheists, particularly if they belonged to religious minorities," the court said. Italian officials said they will appeal the ruling. "You can't build a united Europe by eliminating the traditions of individual countries," said Mariastella Gelmini, Italy's education minister. "The crucifix represents Italy and defending its presence in schools means defending our tradition." Gelmini, a member of the conservative government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said that "no one, and certainly not an ideological European court, will succeed in erasing our identity." The Vatican said it wanted to study the exact wording of the ruling before issuing a response. Source: Articles by Stacy Meichtry for the Wall Street Journal and Nick Squires for the Christian Science Monitor

church and state italy schools religious minorities crucifixes
Arab spring may leave region’s Christians out in the cold

02 Oct 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“Change is always uncomfortable. Some kinds are traumatic,” writes Alice Camille in "The endangered vineyard," this Sunday’s Prepare The Word scripture commentary. Christians in Syria face an uncertain future as Syria plunges further into unrest every day. They fear that in the event President Bashar al-Assad falls from power they may be subjected to reprisals at the hands of a conservative Sunni leadership. For many Syrian Christians, Assad remains predictable in a region where unpredictability has driven their brethren from war-racked places like Iraq and Lebanon and where others have felt threatened in post-revolutionary Egypt. They worry that the struggle to dislodge Assad could turn into a civil war, unleashing sectarian bloodshed in a country where minorities, ethnic and religious, have for the most part found a way to coexist. The plight of Christians in Syria has resonated among religious minorities across the Middle East, many of whom see themselves as facing a shared destiny. In Iraq the number of Christians has dwindled to insignificance since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, driven away by bloodshed and chauvinism. Christians in Egypt worry about the ascent of Islamists. Christians in Lebanon, representing the largest minority by proportion in the Arab world, worry about their own future in a country where they emerged as the distinct losers of a 15-year civil war. But while the promise of the Arab revolts is a new order shorn of repression and inequality, worries linger that Islamists, the single most organized force in the region, will gain greater influence and that societies will become more conservative and perhaps intolerant. Source: An article by the New York Times

iraq egypt lebanon religious minorities islamism christians syria bashar al-assad