This is a cross-post from Joseph Weissman
The US State Department has released its annual global report on religious freedom in each country around the world. I consider this report hugely beneficial in encouraging democratic freedoms, even in the most contentious subject of belief in the divine.
Eight countries are considered to be of great concern for religious freedom: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan. Other countries also merit a mention for various reasons.
From the report on North Korea, I learned about the spiritual ideology surrounding Kim Jong-Il, how the North Korean government had tentatively welcomed some contact with Buddhists in the south, and allowed a Russian Orthodox church to minister spiritually to Russians and other Orthodox Christians in Korea.
Further, the report also states:
The government deals harshly with all opponents, including those who engage in religious practices it deems unacceptable. Religious and human rights groups outside the country provided numerous reports in previous years that members of underground churches were arrested, beaten, tortured, or killed because of their religious beliefs. An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 persons were believed to be held in political prison camps in remote areas, some for religious reasons. Prison conditions were harsh, and refugees and defectors who had been in prison stated that prisoners held on the basis of their religious beliefs were generally treated worse than other inmates.
[…]
Foreign media and a South Korean NGO reported in August 2010 that 23 Christians were arrested in May 2010 for belonging to an underground church in Kuwol-dong, Pyongsong City, South Pyongan Province. Reportedly three were executed, and the others were sent to Yoduk political prison camp.
I found this section terribly sad and strange:
Several foreigners residing in Pyongyang attended Korean-language services at the Christian churches on a regular basis. Some foreigners who visited the country stated that church services appeared staged and contained political content supportive of the government, in addition to religious themes. Other foreigners who visited the country noted the appearance of genuine worship among some participants. Foreign legislators attending services in Pyongyang in previous years noted that congregations arrived at and departed services as groups on tour buses, and some observed that the worshipers did not include any children. Some foreigners noted that they were not permitted to have contact with worshipers; others noted limited interaction with them. Foreign observers had limited ability to ascertain the level of government control over these groups, but it was generally assumed they were monitored closely. According to the 2009 KINU White Paper, defectors reported being unaware of any recognized religious organizations that maintained branches outside of Pyongyang. Religious ceremonies such as weddings and funerals were almost unknown.
The report on Saudi Arabia highlights the terrible discrimination that Shia Muslims face. The extent of institutional anti-Shia discrimination in Saudi Arabia is terrifying. This passage caught my attention in particular:
During the reporting period, at least seven Shi’a mosques and two Shi’a waqfs (places of prayer in individuals’ homes sanctioned by local Shi’a clerics as a suitable alternative to traditional mosques) were closed in al-Khobar and al-Ahsa. The provincial government reportedly carried out the closures by arresting and threatening to arrest mosque owners and clerics if they continued to hold prayers and by posting police near the mosques. Local authorities reportedly told mosque owners that the closures were due to improper zoning and lack of appropriate permits.
The report on China highlights persecution of Uighur Muslims, Uighur Christians, Tibetan Buddhist, and most horrifically the practicioners of the Falun Gong discipline:
In certain areas neighborhood groups were reportedly instructed to report on Falun Gong members; monetary rewards have been offered to citizens who informed on Falun Gong practitioners.
Falun Gong sources estimated that since 1999 at least 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been sentenced to prison. Falun Gong adherents have also been subjected to administrative sentences of up to three years in RTL camps. Falun Gong estimated more than 100,000 adherents in the country have been sentenced to RTL.
Family members reported the harsh treatment of Falun Gong practitioners, including the use of torture. Falun Gong practitioners were also subjected to detention in psychiatric hospitals on the orders of public security officials. There was no mechanism for appealing such psychiatric commitments. Falun Gong practitioners detained in psychiatric hospitals were reportedly administered medicine against their will and subjected to electric shock treatment.
As I’ve previously noted, China have taken advice on “cult-fighting” from the Israeli antimissionary group Yad L’Achim.
Yad L’Achim feature prominently in the State Department’s report on Israel, which includes details about the Penina Pies incident (where activists urged a boycott of a Messianic bakery), the riot in Beersheva at a Messianic house of worship, and the firebombing of a Messianic Jew’s car after his daughter was approached by Yad L’Achim activists in school.
The report on Israel/OPT states:
The ultra-Orthodox anti-missionary organization Yad L’Achim, led by Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifschitz, continued to harass individuals in settlements that it identified, often incorrectly, as “missionaries.” The JIJ received more than 30 complaints in 2009 from Messianic Jewish and Christian leaders regarding posters displayed in their neighborhoods containing their photographs, names, and addresses, warning the public to “avoid the dangerous missionaries.”
On October 7, 2009, police arrested Yaakov Teitel 18 months after receiving security video evidence of Teitel delivering explosives to the doorstep of David Ortiz. In March 2008 explosives left on the doorstep of David Ortiz, a Messianic Jewish leader in Ariel, seriously injured his son. Teitel, an Orthodox settler, confessed that he targeted the Ortiz family due to their religious beliefs and said he often worked with Yad L’Achim.
Further, the arrest of Anat Hoffman for leading women in prayer at the wall is mentioned, as well as reports about the firebombing of mosques near Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Criticisms of Hamas and PA anti-Zionist propaganda is contained within the Israel/OPT report.
We also read of Hamas fundamentalism in Gaza:
During the reporting period, terrorist organizations including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad carried out attacks against Israeli citizens, mostly in the form of indiscriminate rocket and mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip. The attacks were in part religiously motivated and attempts to recruit for and justify the attacks often relied on religious statements and imagery. Terrorists also often issued statements that contained anti-Semitic rhetoric in conjunction with the attacks.
Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization, maintained control of Gaza throughout the reporting period and enforced a conservative interpretation of Islam on Gaza’s Muslim population. For instance, Hamas operated a women’s prison during the reporting period to house women convicted of “ethical crimes” such as “illegitimate pregnancy.” Hamas’s “morality police” during the reporting period punished women for riding motorcycles and dressing “inappropriately.” Couples in public are routinely stopped, separated, and questioned by plainclothes officers to determine if they are married; premarital sex is a crime punishable by imprisonment. A 19-year-old male remained in prison without trial during the reporting period because he is homosexual, according to Human Rights Watch.
On the subject of Israel, anti-Zionist abuse directed at Jewish communities are consistently recognised in the State Dept reports.
In the report on the UK, we read:
Community Security Trust (CST) reported that there were 296 anti-Semitic incidents in the last six months of 2009, whereas the preceding six months had seen 609 incidents, due in large part to the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip in January and February 2009. The incidents included property damage, threats, abusive behavior, and mass-produced or mass-mailed anti-Semitic literature.
The group also reported a small spike in anti-Semitic incidents immediately after the Gaza flotilla incident in June 2010. CST recorded 28 anti-Semitic incidents in the first week of June and 74 incidents for the entire month.
With Venezuela, in the section on restrictions of religious freedom, the US State Dept notes:
On June 2, 2010, following the Gaza flotilla incident, President Chávez called Israel a “genocidal state” but said he was not an “enemy of the Jews,” that Venezuelan Jews “have our affection and our respect,” and that he “could not believe that a Venezuelan Jew…would support this kind of massacre.”
In January 2009, 11 persons, including several police officers, allegedly vandalized the Tiferet Israel synagogue. The suspects remained in prison, awaiting trial, at the end of the reporting period.
Anti-Zionism is also used to target other religious minority groups, as the report on Iran shows:
Baha’is could not teach or practice their religious beliefs or maintain links with coreligionists abroad. Baha’is were often officially charged with “espionage on behalf of Zionism,” in part due to the fact that the Baha’i world headquarters is located in Israel. These charges were more acute when Baha’is were caught communicating with or sending monetary contributions to the Baha’i headquarters.
Iran also clamps down heavily on Sunni Islam, Sabaean-Mandaean religionists, and even monitors Shia clerics. With regards to the Shoah:
President Ahmadinejad continued to regularly question the existence and the scope of the Holocaust, which created a more hostile environment for the Jewish community. In a September 18, 2009, speech at the annual Al Quds Day rally in Tehran, the president stated the West created the myth of the Holocaust as a pretext for the creation of the “Zionist” regime.
With regards to intra-faith domestic discrimination, sadly Iran and Saudi Arabia mirror each other. Saudi is officially Sunni heavily restricting Shia worship, and Iran is officially Shia and heavily restricts Sunni worship.
The US has some well-placed criticisms of freedom of religion in India, summarised neatly in Christianity Today.
From the report on Eritrea, we read of Christians suffering intensely:
According to the Voice of the Martyrs, on March 27, 2010, military officials arrested 17 young men gathered for prayer in the town of Segheneyti. The prisoners reportedly were detained while carrying out their compulsory national military service and were being held at a local police station.
According to the Voice of the Martyrs, a Canadian-based nonprofit organization, on March 2, 2010, Efrem Habtemichel Hagos died of malaria and pneumonia while in solitary confinement in Adi-Nefase military camp in Assab. He reportedly was denied proper medical treatment because he refused to recant his beliefs. He was the 12th person known to have died while being incarcerated at this camp.
Reacting to the US reports, so far the governments of Vietnam, Iran and Egypt and the US-based religious organisation National Council of Young Israel have been particularly vocal in denouncing the US for daring to comment on religious freedoms in various countries. Perhaps other governments or bodies will follow suit.
But I think it is important that, in an increasingly globalised world, we are aware of worrying trends which threaten our religious freedoms.
