Posted on 07/21/2015 12:52:14 PM PDT by NRx
On 16 July [column 766 ff] the House of Lords debated a motion moved by Lord Alton of Liverpool (CB), as follows:
“That this House takes note of worldwide violations of Article 18 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the case for greater priority to be given by the United Kingdom and the international community to upholding freedom of religion and belief”.
He began by quoting Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance …”
The Declaration’s stated objective was to realise “a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations”. His purpose was to encourage Governments to give greater political and diplomatic priority to Article 18, to insist on the importance of religious literacy, “… to discuss the crossover between freedom of religion and belief and a nation’s prosperity and stability; and to reflect on the suffering of those denied this foundational freedom”.
He quoted with approval the BBC’s chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, who said that “If you don’t understand religion—including the abuse of religion—it’s becoming ever harder to understand our world” and said that liberal democracy simply did not understand the power of the forces opposing it or how best to counter them. He also noted that the FCO had only one full-time desk officer dedicated to freedom of religion or belief”. In short, he argued that the international community should have a more consistent approach to Article 18, vigorously promote it through our interventions and our aid programmes and unceasingly counter a fundamentalism that promotes hatred of difference and persecutes those who hold different beliefs.
The debate ranged widely over the general issue of persecution of religious minorities internationally with numerous references to individual examples of persecution. What follows, however, concentrates on the more general issues that it addressed.
Read the rest at the linked website.
Full transcript of the debate and motion...
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201516/ldhansrd/text/150716-0002.htm#15071639000955
Are they going to debate on how many angels are able to dance on the head of a pin?
Was there a point to your comment, other than announcing that you did not bother tom read the linked post?
This is excellent. Thank-you.
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