We often use the term "freedom"—freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of economic association, and freedom of religion. Is one freedom, religious freedom, more basic than the others? And are the freedoms intertwined in some way? A new book, Religious Freedom in the World 2007, to be released early next year, answers each of the questions with an unqualified 'yes.'
In general, it found violations of religious freedom worldwide are "massive, widespread, and, in many parts of the world, intensifying." It found radical Islam as the largest growing threat to religious freedom.
The book surveys over 100 countries and territories, with a heavier emphasis on countries with severe state-sponsored religious persecution, and rates them on several scales of religious freedom.
On July 9, The Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C. released the book's initial findings and held a panel discussion which included the chief editor, Paul Marshall, and a few of the 79 people involved in making of the book.
Paul Marshall is the author and editor of over 20 books on religion and politics, including the best-selling and award-winning survey of religious persecution worldwide, Their Blood Cries Out (1997), according to information provided at the event.
"Religious freedom is pivotal to a free society. Thomas Jefferson and America's founders called it the 'first freedom'," says a statement by Nina Shea, Paul Marshall, and Lela Gilbert, all from the Center for Religious Freedom of the Hudson Institute.
Their statement explains: "...freedom of thought, conscience and religion is the prerequisite for the exercise of all other basic human rights. In theory and practice, free expression, freedom of press and freedom of association depend on the prior guarantee of a free conscience. The historical reality is that where religious freedom is denied, so too are other basic human rights."
Religious liberty has a particular form in the U.S. For one, we have the First Amendment that guarantees the free exercise of religion, and two, our government is not allowed to establish a state religion. However, the U.S. model may not be the most common. Their study shows that a nation can have a majority religion dominate or even possess a state-sponsored religion and still be religiously free, even freer than some "secular" states. For instance, the Islamic countries Mali and Senegal were rated higher in religious freedom than the European countries of Germany and France.
Worst Nations for Religious Persecution
State-sponsored religious persecution occurs today under three types of regimes, according to Marshall:
• Atheistic communist regimes (e.g., China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba)
• Nationalistic authoritarian states (e.g., Burma, Eritrea and Uzbekistan)
• Radical Islamic states (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan)
The violations of religious freedom in the above countries are particularly egregious. Other nations that belong in this group are Belarus, Maldives, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Mauritania, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories. The introductory sheet for this event at the Hudson Institute noted that over the past year, "events in Iraq caused that country to rank among those with the worst religious records for the first time since the era of Saddam Hussein."
Religious Freedom Not a Western Prerequisite
The United States, Ireland, Estonia and Hungary ranked at the top. Religious freedom is not the exclusive purview of western governments. Most Latin American countries scored well, says Marshall. Japan, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Botswana, Mali, Namibia, Senegal, and South Africa scored better than some western countries like Belgium, France, Germany and Greece.
Religious Freedom Intertwined with Other Freedoms
One of the panelists, Dr. Brian J Grim, senior research fellow at Religion & World Affairs, sought to address the relationship between religious liberty and economic and political freedom in quantitative ways. Grim's research for the Pew Forum on Religion and the Public Life asked two questions:
"Is it very important to live in a country where there is religious freedom (1) for you? and (2) for other religions? These questions were asked to more than 7,400 people surveyed in 2006 in eleven countries, which were not specified. The result was that 76% said 'yes' to the first question and 62% said 'yes' to the second question. Grim said this 14% gap is a measure of "social restriction of religious freedom." Ideally, the percentage answering 'yes' to the second question should have matched the percentage in the first question.
Grim introduced several indexes that measure the extent of restrictions and constraints on religions by society and government. His Social Regulation Index (SRI) includes negative attitudes others hold toward a religion's proselytizing and conversions, and whether a dominate religion in a country is shutting out new religions. Legal restrictions are captured in his Government Regulation Index (GRI), which includes prohibiting or restricting missionary work, proselytizing, conversion, and interference with an individual's right to worship. Another index that combines all his indexes as a broad measure of restraint on religion is the Religious Freedom (RF) index.
Grim found a significant correlation between the SRI and economic freedom. Even more significant relations were discovered between the GRI and political freedom, civil liberties, and press freedom. The highest correlations were found with the RF index which is strongly and significantly associated with civil liberties and economic, political and press freedoms.
Reporters Without Borders provided the index for press freedom and Freedom House provided the indexes for civil liberties and political liberties.
The finding mentioned most often at the panel discussion is the connection between religious freedom and the economy. The former correlated with the economic status of women and of men. When religious restrictions are high, the gross domestic product (GDP) is lower. Additionally, the number of cell phone subscribers is related to religious freedom. Dr. Grim proposed that the number of cell phones is an indicator of economic well-being.
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