Free Republic

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has urged the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to consider placing Canada on its Watch List due to its continued lockdown restrictions, arrests of Christian pastors and seizure of church property. Hawley called out what he deems as the government's “systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom,” adding that he's deeply concerned that “freedom is in peril across our nation’s northern border." Some congregations in Canada have seen the forced closure of church buildings, arrests of pastors, in addition to stiff fines and jail time for church leaders over their defiance of...

As President-elect Joe Biden is set to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, the chair of the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom believes the incoming administration will continue the religious freedom successes of the Trump administration. Gayle Manchin, the wife of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and who has served with the congressionally mandated commission tasked with advising the executive branch and Congress about global religious freedom matters since 2018, told The Christian Post that she has spoken with the Biden administration’s transition team about the issue of religious freedom. “The Biden administration will be just as strong,” vowed Manchin, a...

Middle Eastern Christians have endured a long and violent history at the hands of radical Muslims. At the turn of the 20th century, Christians made up 20 percent of the population in the Middle East. Today, that number is only 3-5 percent. "Christians have been harassed in more countries than any other religious group and have suffered harassment in many of the heavily Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa," says the Pew Research Center's Katayoun Kishi. By 2050, it is estimated Christians will compose 3 percent or less of the population of the Middle East with Muslims...

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) applauds the passage of legislation in Canada’s Senate removing the offense of blasphemy from the country’s criminal code. The offense will be officially removed once the bill receives Royal Assent. The last time someone was convicted for blasphemy in Canada was almost 100 years ago. However, these laws are dangerous even when dormant in Western democracies, as they can unexpectedly be enforced to prosecute offenders for speech deemed blasphemous, as a recent incident in Spain shows. “Laws criminalizing blasphemy are detrimental to religious freedom and other human rights,...

“These refugees face the imminent danger of return to Iran, where the already dire situation for religious minorities is steadily deteriorating,” said USCIRF Chairman Daniel MarkThe U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is concerned by recent reports that roughly 100 members of Iranian religious minorities, who sought resettlement to the United States, have been denied asylum and could be returned to Iran where they may face discrimination and persecution. The refugees, most of whom are reported to be Assyrian or Armenian Christians, were seeking refuge in the United States under the Lautenberg Amendment. The Lautenberg Amendment, enacted in 1990,...

For a record 14th year in a row, the State Department has overruled the advice of an independent statutory watchdog and decided not to blacklist Pakistan for religious freedom abuses. The decision not to designate Pakistan a “country of particular concern” under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) comes despite its government’s continuing rejection of calls to amend or rescind the world’s most notorious blasphemy laws — which carry the death penalty and are frequently used to target Christians and other minorities. It also comes just days after a new U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report highlighted...

A new study released Tuesday found that Pakistan’s public school textbooks negatively portray the country’s religious minorities, including Hindus, Christians and Ahmadis, as “untrustworthy, religiously inferior, and ideologically scheming.” […] The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) sponsored the study, which was conducted by the Pakistan-based NGO Peace and Education Foundation (PEF). The study found 70 new instances of bias in addition to finding that some problematic content found in a 2011 study conducted by USCIRF had remained and even been expanded upon. “Pakistan’s public school textbooks contain deeply troubling content that portrays non-Muslim citizens as outsiders, unpatriotic, and...

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has condemned a bill recently introduced in the Turkish parliament that would “change the status of Hagia Sophia from a museum, which it has been since 1935, to a mosque. ... The 1,477-year-old Hagia Sophia, which is located in Istanbul, has had a turbulent history. The historic building, which was originally constructed under Emperor Justinian, was completed by 537 A.D. and is an iconic example of Byzantine architecture. It served alternately as a Roman Catholic cathedral and an Eastern Orthodox church until 1453, when the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople and converted...

A group of devout Muslims from across Turkey prayed before the city’s historic Hagia Sophia on the 562nd anniversary of the Turkish conquest of Istanbul, demanding that the site be turned back into a mosque. Men and women from across the country gathered before the Hagia Sophia museum early May 31, as part of an event organized by the Anatolian Youth Association (AGD) with the motto “Break the chains, Open Hagia Sophia,” and prayed the morning prayer with a call for the reconversion of the museum into a mosque. Designed as a Christian basilica in the sixth century by Anthemios...

American leaders denounced the burning of a Christian leader's library in Tripoli, Lebanon, last Friday night as based on false pretenses and said it's a threat to religious liberty. "The really bad news is that this is not out of the ordinary," Robert P. George, chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), told The Christian Post in an interview on Monday. George emphasized the need to advocate for religious freedom across the world to prevent attacks like this one. The Friday night fire burned two-thirds of some 80,000 books and manuscripts in the Al-Saeh library owned...

America’s free-speech model is in desperate need of an update, says an American-Muslim human rights activist who recently spoke at an event linked to an Obama administration appointee. Dr. Qasim Rashid argued that cyber-bullying laws could be used to limit freedom of expression – such as the burning of Korans -- in war time: “When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in times of peace are a hindrance to this effort,” Rashid said on March 19 at Howard University. “And their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight and…no court can regard...

Islamic Society of N. America: Encouraging Muslims to Obtain a Foothold in Governmental Agencies I have said over and over that Muslims do not have to be anywhere near the majority of America, to have a major impact on our country. The reason being, is that they know exactly where to target. Tonight we see how the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), is opening the door for Muslims to obtain a foothold within our government. (Related Content on the Islamist Infiltration of all American institutions) Careers in Interfaith/Government Target #1. Internships at the State Department STUDENT PROGRAMS Experience the...

China concerned with unilateral decision by US religion body to visit Hong Kong Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesmanLiu Jianchao said Tuesday that China is concerned with the unilateral decision of a US religion body to visit the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Liu made the remark in regard to a report that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) would send delegates to Hong Kong. The commission's decision came out while China's State Administration of Religious Affairs was consulting with it about the schedule for a China tour by its delegates, Liu said. He said the commission's unilateral...

Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Washington's religious rights watchdog has seized on the latest State Department global survey of religious freedom to renew its longstanding calls for the administration to act firmly against Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Turkmenistan. The three countries -- two Islamic and one communist -- are among the worst of the numerous violators cited in the fifth annual report by the State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom, released Thursday. Yet the three have not been designated "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 - the legislation that set up both...