The State of Religious Liberty Around the World

RealClearPolitics has launched a new initiative, Religious Liberty Around the World, to highlight issues of freedom of faith and conscience around the world, ranging from persecution of religious minorities in China to human rights abuses in Nigeria.

Susan Crabtree interviewed Uyghur-American lawyer Nury Turkel, founder of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and author of "No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs." Turkel's work has helped fellow Uyghurs escape the persecution facing them in China and relocate elsewhere.

The Uyghur genocide, Turkel says, "relates to every aspect of American life, I think it's fair to say, whether it be economic interest, values, global leadership, and now the technological competition. So, the general public can no longer say that either they did not know, or they can't care … because there's so much at stake economically."

China sees foreign religions such as Christianity and Islam as a threat to its Communist ideology, he said. "[Religious faith] will create more resentment, it will pose a long-term threat, it could be a source for future unrest. ... So, at any cost, under any justification, if anything is not compatible with the CCP or Communist ideology or anything that could potentially pose political threat or create instability, that needs to be taken out. ... So, they have taken actions to preemptively lock up religious leaders, thought leaders, custodians of cultural heritage [before they become an actual threat] to force them to go through this human arrangement they call the reeducation process."

As Nina Shea and Katrina Lantos Swett have documented, China has also targeted adherents of Falun Gong. In 2006, reports emerged that China was forcibly harvesting organs and targeted members of this religion for elimination.

But the horror did not end there. "Last year 12 independent UN experts stated they were 'extremely alarmed' by 'credible information' that forced organ harvesting was continuing and, moreover, targeting China's various religious minorities," Shea and Lantos Swett wrote. "Several sources report evidence that the atrocity has spread to Xinjiang's massive network of closed detention camps, which, significantly, were built after 2015, and which both Republican and Democratic administrations recognized as the site of ongoing genocide against China's Uyghur Muslims." Estimates suggest that between 25,000 to 50,000 Uyghurs are killed every year as victims of organ harvesting.

Crabtree has also investigated Chinese crackdowns against Christian churches in Hong Kong. "Catholic churches refusing to comply with state mandates have been torn down or had their crosses removed, while images of Christ have been replaced with posters of [President Xi Jinping]," she wrote. "The Chinese government controls religious organizations by forcing them to register and submit to the leadership of approved 'patriotic religious entities' that follow national guidelines, including teaching that loyalty to the country and communism are integral to their faiths. Those who refuse must operate underground, subject to government punishment." The CCP has also made inroads in establishing influence over Christian schools and churches.

"As of today, the religious freedom in Hong Kong is being suppressed severely," said Roy Chan, a preacher who fled to the United Kingdom to escape punishment from the Hong Kong government for participating in protests against human rights abuses.

And China is far from the only persecutor of religion. As Kelsey Zorzi documented last year for RealClearReligion, violence against Christians and Muslims, including kidnappings and beheadings, has risen considerably in Nigeria. "No single solution will suffice, but the international community, and the U.S. in particular, cannot stand by while the Nigerian government allows terrorists and criminals to attack faith communities and commit gross human rights violations with impunity," Zorzi wrote.

Meanwhile, Taliban rule in Afghanistan has led to a crackdown against religious freedom, as members of minority faiths have had to flee, face persecution, or go into hiding.

"It is essential that we continue to pay very close attention to the rights of religious minorities and religious reform in Afghanistan as this will be central to reducing violence there and restoring the rights and freedom of the Afghan people," said Ann Richard, a former U.S. State Department official.

Americans of all political persuasions can agree that religious liberty is worth protecting, as Sarah Estelle wrote for RealClearReligion. "Religious liberty isn't fundamentally a partisan issue even if it often seems to be," she wrote. "It's the number one issue we can come together on in an age of extreme polarization – and that should give us hope."

But before there can be change, we need to understand the dire state of religious freedom in too many countries around the world. And this is where the Religious Liberty Around the World project can help.