Religious freedom worldwide at 16-year low: New strategy needed
Yesterday, I sent U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio a letter. In it I draw attention to the latest Pew Research data showing that the state of religious freedom worldwide is at its lowest point in 16 years and that current strategies for combatting the deterioration of this universal human right are insufficient. The solution is to adopt a new strategy that harnesses a powerful and untapped force with a vested interest in building religious freedom worldwide. That’s business.
The good news is that top global businesses are already engaged in building religious freedom for millions of working people by making their workplaces faith friendly at home and abroad. Accordingly, I offered five recommendations including that the next Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom be a senior business leader with a passion for religious freedom for all worldwide.
Recommendations to the State Department:
1. Call on companies worldwide to adopt and benchmark faith-and-belief-friendly practices as a way to build religious freedom for billions of working people of all faiths and beliefs.
2. Develop a global coalition of business leaders who can inspire their peers to advance peace by advancing religious freedom and interfaith understanding.
3. Prioritize funding international religious freedom initiatives that can be sustained through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
4. Develop a business toolkit that incorporates the best practices and lessons learned from successful “religious freedom building” initiatives such as those described in the letter.
5. Recommend to the President that he nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom who has global business experience and can have world-changing impact by promoting the positive socio-economic and bottom-line benefits of religious freedom.
The latest data show that governments harassed religious groups in 186 countries and territories, up from 118 in 2007, the year I led the first Pew Research Center annual study of restrictions on religious freedom. Compounding the problem is that when harassment by social actors is included, religious groups in 192 out of the world’s 198 countries and territories (97%) experienced such harassment, which is a new peak level. (This also includes harassment of non-religious people by religious groups.)
These data are in part based on the Pew Research Center’s quantitative analysis of the State Department’s own annual reports on international religious freedom mandated by and submitted to the U.S. Congress.
Given that violations of religious freedom occur in 97% of countries, a strategy that does more than just calling out the most egregious violators is needed.
Read the full letter.
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Contact:
Brian J Grim
Religious Freedom & Business Foundation
8145748672
[email protected]
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RNS or Religion News Foundation.