A Global Movement: State Department Report Reveals Religious Right on the Rise
The State Department yesterday released its annual report on the status of religious freedom around the world. And the results are not particularly encouraging: The report concludes that the right to practice religion (or the lack thereof) freely, and without reprisal, is under threat around the globe.
In many cases, religious liberty is threatened by government actions.
“Restrictive policies included laws criminalizing religious activities and expression, prohibitions on conversion or proselytizing, blasphemy laws, and stringent registration requirements or discriminatory application of registration requirements for religious organizations,” the report explained.
It added, “When governments choose not to combat discrimination on the basis of religion and intolerance, it breeds an environment in which intolerant and violent groups are emboldened, even to the point of physically attacking individuals on the basis of their religious beliefs.”
The report documents the extensive consequences of such policies—and the rising influence of America’s Religious Right is easily discernible.
Case in point: it criticizes Russia for a recent official shift toward privileging the Russian Orthodox Church, and enshrining its doctrine on sexual orientation in law, even though the country’s constitution ostensibly includes protections for religious liberty. This shift effectively criminalizes the country’s LGBT community—and American activists deserve much of the credit. The World Congress of Families, a U.S.-based group that campaigns against LGBT rights, actively supported Russia’s anti-gay laws, as did Scott Lively, who called Russia his “greatest success” earlier this year.
The Religious Right’s global ambitions aren’t exactly news to anyone who follows the movement’s activities. Frustrated by a lack of success in the U.S., activists are beginning to look overseas for potential growth, which means that Russia isn’t an outlier. It’s merely a symptom of a growing global problem.
As Rob Boston reported on this blog last week, America’s Christian soldiers are also targeting Ukraine, pushing the same anti-LGBT agenda they’ve pushed in Russia—and Uganda, and elsewhere.
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