Aid to the Church in Need: The ACN 2008 Report on Religious Freedom in the World

The ACN 2008 Report on Religious Freedom in the World

Posted by ACN News on 29/10/2008, 10:57 am
Message modified by board administrator 29/10/2008, 11:09 am

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)

The ACN 2008 Report on Religious Freedom in the World

The denial of religious freedom is reported in the pages of all newspapers. Violence and abuse of power are continuously reported from all over the world. The 2008 Report on Religious Freedom in the World by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) was recently released to analyse this situation, report on the news, facts, situations and testimonies of events that otherwise would be in danger of remaining undisclosed or escape public attention.

Speakers at the press conference held in Rome on the 23rd of October to release this report were Father Bernardo Cervellera (director of AsiaNews), Camille Eid (expert for the Middle East), Marco Politi (journalist), Father Joaquin Alliende (international president of ACN), and Paola Rivetta (journalist).

Published by ACN, this Report, said Father Alliende “answers public opinion’s growing need to be informed regards to the real situation that human rights in general are experiencing, and freedom of worship in particular, as every human being’s inalienable right. This Report” continued Father Alliende “stands out for its non-denominational approach, analysing the situation in every country, referring to all restrictions, in particular juridical-institutional ones, or all social-cultural or ideological ones.”

The freedom to change religion, to express and practice one’s own religious persuasions both in public and in private, to develop a personal religious life, to pass on one’s own credo and spread its values is addressed in this Report, which analyses the presence or negation of religious freedom in every country, providing data and numbers that in many cases are alarming.

“When the dams of coexistence break down” said Marco Politi “the problem of violations of religious freedom become evident in all their entirety, well beyond denominational borders. Nowadays” continued Politi “ the countries presenting problems are key states for achieving world balance, such as, for example, China, where there continues to be state control over religious freedom, or India, where in recent months anti-Christian violence has risen to unbelievable levels.”

Camille Eid directed his comments to the forced exodus of Christians fleeing Iraq in recent months. “The law approved last September by Parliament in Baghdad” he said “annulled the law that, albeit to a limited extent, guaranteed freedom of worship for Christians in Iraq.”

“What emerges from the ACS 2008 Report?” Father Cervellera asked himself when speaking at the press conference “One interesting datum is certainly that violations of freedom of worship take place increasingly less for ideological reasons and increasingly more often because of power games. The attempt to stop religious freedom is addressed above all at impoverishing States, maintaining the population in conditions of slavery. In other nations” continued Father Cervellera “such as for example China, fear of opening to freedom of worship coincides with the fear of encouraging other freedoms. Hence, behind the façade, for example the Olympic Games, shows that the situation of closure and negation of freedom remains unchanged”.

Today, there are over 60 States in which there are attacks on freedom of worship.

Among countries in the Near East, Egypt is the one with the highest number of Christians. The majority belong to the Copt-Orthodox Church while others belong to ultra-minority communities such as the Copt-Catholic, Armenian, Greek-Orthodox, Greek-Catholic, Chaldean, Maronite and Latin Churches.
The situation is delicate in Eritrea, where in August 2007 the authorities ordered the Catholic Church to hand over to the Ministry for Social Wellbeing and Labour all its social institutions such as schools, clinics, orphanages and education centres for women. Various sources report that there are at least 2,000 people in prison for religious reasons (according to Compass Direct News, 95% are Christians, mostly members of non-recognised evangelical groups) arrested after May 2002 because of their beliefs. They are imprisoned for months and years with no formal charges and no trials (in spite of the fact that the law forbids detention lasting more than thirty days without charges being contested), often in military jails, in very harsh conditions and with no medical care.
Saudi Arabia is however the Islamic country in which freedom of worship is even more formally denied. The Kingdom defines itself as “integrally” Islamic, considers the Koran as the country’s only Constitution and the Shari’a as its fundamental legislation.
Terrorism is one of the greatest threats to freedom of worship in Indonesia. In recent years this country has experienced a series of bloody attacks, with al-Qaeda’s local branch, the JI, claiming responsibility. The objectives attacked were mainly “western” ones such as churches and embassies.
In Nigeria, instead the most widespread acts of religious intolerance and discrimination are those reported by the various Christian communities present in the more Islamised states in Northern Nigeria, almost always coinciding with the 12 States that have introduced the Shari’a into their legislation
In Myanmar too in 2007 the situation regarding freedom of worship and human rights worsened significantly. Between August and September Buddhists monks led a peace movement against the oppressive and repressive policies of the military regime that has ruled this country with an iron fist since 1962.
In Iran the minority persecuted with the greatest violence is that of the Bahai, with 300,000 followers, it is the largest religious minority in the country.
The situation is also serious in Pakistan, where the worst instrument used in religion oppression is the law on blasphemy, an example of the country’s most sectarian and extremist legislation that continues to cause victims.
In Cuba instead, restrictions on freedom of worship contribute to reduce the presence of young people among Catholic believers and ensures that even among those practising their faith, the level of support on moral issues such as opposition to abortion and divorce, or marrying in Church are not respected by at least half the population.

The ACN 2008 Report on Religious Freedom in the World is available in electronic form. The obtain an e-copy of the report please e-mail the Australian office of Aid to the Church in Need on info@aidtochurch.org or phone/fax the office on (02) 9679-1929.
A smaller report titled 'Persecuted and Forgotten?' based on the 2008 report can also be downloaded from the Homepage of the charity's website at www.aidtochurch.org

Editor's Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity - helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named "An Outstanding Apostle of Charity", the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative's launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child's Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org