A Right to Believe and to Worship

Jeffrey Imm
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
http://www.realcourage.org/2010/05/a-right-to-believe-and-to-worship/

Across the world, we see a steady stream of news reports by those who seek to deny others freedom of conscience and freedom of worship. Whatever your religion (or none at all), you can be certain that houses of worship are being protested, vandalized, or bombed around the world - and your freedom of conscience is under attack.

Google news keeps a steady stream of reports on attacks on houses of worship under topics such as "church vandalism," "temple vandalism," "mosque vandalism," and "synagogue vandalism." There are so many attacks on houses of worship around the world, it is almost impossible to keep up with the endless list of hate and violence.

Global Violence and Hate against Religious Centers

In Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe, and the United States, such violence against houses of worship and religious adherents is a widespread disease of hate. But whoever is responsible for such violence, whatever such groups and individuals claim to believe, and whatever their "rationale" may be - there is no doubt that Hate is Hate - no matter who, why, what, where, or how. We must challenge such hate against our fellow human beings and those who would deny our universal human right to freedom of religion and freedom of conscience for all people.

: Church Burned Down in Malaysia -- Mosque Burned Down in United States -- Hate is Hate

Such global violence against religious centers is so widespread and so numerous, the incidents cannot be thoroughly summarized. Moreover, such global violence against religious centers and people of every different faith continue on a near-daily basis around the world. Hate and intolerance knows no boundaries.

For context, however, here are some of the major areas of such hate that Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has seen:

-- In Communist China, government forces have destroyed Christian churches, kidnap religious leaders, arrested worshipers, and sought to disrupt worship services. The authorities have destroyed Uighur Muslim mosques and harassed Uighur Muslims. The Communist Chinese authorities have harassed, arrested, tortured, and imprisoned practitioners of the Falun Gong. While some report and protest such abuses, international government leaders often look the other way. But many are undaunted in the face of such totalitarian hatred, and they defy the Communist Chinese government with their worship services.

: Communist China: Husan Church Destroyed (ChinaAid) -- Uighur Mosque and Kashgar Area Demolition (NYT)

-- In Pakistan, mobs have gone to burn down Christian homes and churches, and Hindu temples have been destroyed. Christian children and Hindu children have been harassed, kidnapped, and forcibly converted, and religious minorities are targeted for oppression, violence, and murder. Both non-Muslims and Muslims have suffered under Pakistan's blasphemy laws. In Pakistan, Shiite Muslim minorities continue to suffer in terrorism attacks in April and February 2010 and December 2009, and have suffered Taliban terrorist attacks on Shiite Muslim mosques.

: Pakistan: Mob Attack on Christian Churches and Homes, Destruction of Hindu Temple (Dawn), Bombing Attack on Muslim Shiites (Dawn)

-- Elsewhere, in Asia, in Malaysia, we have seen arson attacks on eleven churches in January 2010, as well as stoning of a Sikh temple and a pig's head left outside a mosque. The Malaysian authorities have seized Christian Bibles. In Indonesia, attacks on churches are frequently reported including bomb threats, this has included large mobs burning down churches - repeatedly, as well as officials shutting churches down, and protesters calling for the closure of Christian churches. Indonesian Christian worship services are disrupted, including disruption of holiday worship services. To send a message of hatred against Indonesian Christians, terrorists who beheaded three Indonesia girls attending a Christian school, one murdered girl's head was left outside of a Christian church. Also in Indonesia, Muslim minorities are protested, harassed, and their mosques are burned down. In Indonesia protests against Muslim minority mosques, and in protests and attacks against Christian churches, protesters have chanted outside to "kill" those whose faith they do not accept. In Afghanistan, we see almost daily reports of the supremacist Taliban group attacking people of all faiths, and they have attacked Muslim mosques. On April 19, 2010, the Taliban executed the vice mayor of Kandahar while he was praying in a Muslim mosque (Sadozo mosque).

: Malaysia Church Burned -- Indonesia Church Burned -- Indonesia Mosque Burned

-- In Australia, a recent attack on a Hindu temple led to $5,000 of damage, with significant construction damage on the facility.

: Australia: Photograph showing destruction at Hindu temple (Photo: Carlos Furtado)

-- In the Middle East, such religious hate has become too accepted within the cultural norms of too many. In Iraq, Christian students were recently targeted in a massive bombing on their buses. But as U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq, the continuing regular terrorist attacks mostly against Sunni or Shiite Muslims throughout Iraq, including mosques, are largely ignored now by much of the mainstream media. In Egypt, Coptic Christians were the targets of a terrorist attack in January as they exited their house of worship, their houses of worship are attacked, and Copts are regularly killed, threatened with death, kidnapped, arrested, attacked with acid, attacked by mobs, and harassed for their faith.

: Middle East: Bombing Aftermath of Iraqi Christians (AP), Iraqi Shiite Mosques (London Times/Alice Fordham), Arson Attack on Egyptian Coptic Christians, and Terrorist Attack in January on Egyptian Coptic Christians (al-Masry al-Yom)

In the West Bank, Muslim mosques are repeatedly attacked, and in Israel, Jewish synagogues are repeatedly targeted by bombs and missiles.

: West Bank Mosque Arson (Getty), Mosque Vandalism (Reuters), and Israel Synagogue Attacked

-- In Africa, hate and violence against people of faith also knows no boundaries of borders or faith. In Nigeria, shameful violence between Muslims and Christians have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of both, with the destruction of churches and mosques. Christian pastors have been beheaded and hacked to death. Over 20 churches have been destroyed, and there have been multiple reports over time of Christian churches burned down. In Nigeria, there were over 200 killed in January 2010 riots between Christians and Muslims, with bodies stacked up in mosques, and there were 500 Christians murdered in March 2010. Nigeria has a long history of sectarian hatred between religious groups - in 2006, a Nigerian Christian man was quoted after attacks and burning of Muslim mosques as stating "We don't want these mosques here any more. These people are causing all the problems all over the world because they don't fear God." In Somalia, sectarian clashes among Muslim groups have led to attacks on mosques, including a recent May 2010 bombing of a mosque that killed 45 worshipers, an attack that was horrifically praised by the Westboro Baptist Church.

: Nigeria Church Arson, Nigeria Mosque Arson (AP), Somalia Mosque Bombing (Trend)

-- In Europe, violence against houses of worship is also becoming routine. In Germany, on May 18 a Jewish synagogue was the target of an arsonist attack, indicative of the many attacks against synagogues and Jews around the world, including attacks in the United States. The hatred against Jews rampant throughout Europe is so diverse that German authorities are not yet sure who the perpetrators are. In the United Kingdom, hatred has led to attacks on religious facilities of diverse faiths, including a recent arson attack on a church in Cambridgeshire, arson attacks on British synagogues (more than 100 arson attacks on UK synagogues since 2000) the Cradley Heath Islamic Center that was burned to the ground in December 2009, and an April 16, 2010 attack on a mosque in the Eccles suburb of Manchester.

: German Synagogue Arson (DDP), UK Mosque Arson, UK Mosque Vandalism (MEN), UK Synagogue Vandalism

-- In the United States of America, hate attacks on houses of worship are pandemic in the United States, with the FBI reporting 1,500 incidents of hate crimes against Jewish synagogues, Christian churches, Muslim mosques, and other houses of worship. Nazis, white supremacists, and people of diverse religious views have been involved in such attacks. "Christian" messages have been part of vandalism on Muslim mosques and Buddhist temples. A recent attack on a Buddhist temple in the United States has shown it to be the victim of repeated vandalism, including previous "pro-Christian" graffiti on the Buddhist temple that stated "Jesus saves."

: In America Today: Churches, Mosques (TIRCC), Synagogues, Other Houses of Worship Attacked

Many of these attacks have been designed to send a very specific message of hatred to undermine and defy human beings' right to freedom of religion and freedom of worship. In Los Angeles, a Hispanic Christian church was vandalized with a cross defiled and a knife in a painting of the Virgin Mary. In Tennessee, a mosque was vandalized with with the message "Muslims go home."

: Raw Hate: Knife in Painting of Virgin Mary at Christian Church in LA (Photo: ABC); "Muslims Go Home" Vandalism in Tennessee (Photo: John Partipilo / The Tennessean)

Such hate can lead to terrorist attacks in every nation, including the United States, which saw a terrorist attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC on June 10, 2009. On May 10, 2010, a terrorist attacked a mosque in Jacksonville, Florida with a pipe bomb and gasoline.

: DC - Attack on Holocaust Memorial Museum (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) / Florida: Man Attacking Mosque with Pipe Bomb (FBI)

In the United States alone, there has been a steady stream of individuals accused of terrorist acts and plots, associated with religious supremacism and extremism. Such major figures in recent American news reports have included: Nidal Hassan, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Faisal Shahzad, and the Hutaree militia. But the list and the numbers of those who channel their hatred of people of other religions and religious institutions is an ever-growing fire of anti-human rights rage that continues to destroy people's lives, families, cities, and even their houses of worship around the world.

: In America: Recent Products of Hate against Other Religions and Religious Freedom: Nidal Hassan, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Faisal Shahzad, Hutaree Militia

To work towards an end to such terrorism, we must first work towards an end to such hatred, disrespect, and contempt for each other's universal human rights. For some people, some organizations, and even some nations, that must begin with acknowledging the very existence of our unqualified, universal human rights.

Certainly there are many attacks that we have not mentioned in this incomplete summary of some of the violence against houses of worship and religious faiths that we have seen. Nor have we tried to catalog the numbers of attacks by individual faiths. In different parts of the world, there are more attacks on some faiths' houses of worship than on others. We readily recognize and acknowledge this fact. But whether there are more attacks on churches, synagogues, mosques, or Hindu or Buddhist temples really is not our point.

The point is that such attacks anywhere on houses of worship of any faith are attacks everywhere on all of our freedom of religion, freedom of worship, and freedom to believe. You may have noticed that a burned down mosque, synagogue, church, or temple all essentially look alike - that was the point of including such images together. Like our human rights, hate is also universal - and the consequences of hate are also the same.

The balance we are seeking is found in our consistent support of such universal human rights - not in choosing that such rights are only important when selected houses of worship of faiths are attacked. Hate is hate and it is always wrong, and always a challenge to our universal human rights.

Amidst these global waves of hate and violence against houses of worship, we should be seeing broader and more frequent calls from community and religious leaders to defy and condemn such attacks. But a response by such leaders is not enough, because such global attacks on our right to freedom of conscience and right to worship freely is not just their responsibility. It is our responsibility. It is our responsibility to equality and liberty for all people of all faiths (including those whose conscience reject organized religions) to defend all of our fellow human beings' right to believe and to worship.

Relative Freedom of Religion or Universal Freedom of Religion?

A growing trend among some is the belief that our universal human rights of freedom of religion, conscience, and worship are somehow "relative" to certain parts of the world, certain faiths, and only certain situations. There is a growing trend that some want to call for relative freedom of religion - only for their faith, their conscience - and only when it suits them where they live. Some are determined to try to "tailor" such human rights to only those faiths, those beliefs, those forms of worship they approve. Such relativists believe that where they live, the universal human rights of freedom of worship only exists for those they agree with and can tolerate.

But relative human rights are no human rights. Relative freedom of religion, conscience, and worship is no freedom of religion, conscience, and worship. Such relativism is a cancer to human rights progress because some to get the illusion of tolerance, respect, and even freedom - just until there isn't. Freedom of religion, conscience, and worship must extend not only to people like us and people we like, but also to those who we disagree with, don't approve of, and even those who challenge the very human rights and freedoms we all enjoy.

We cannot decide that for some religions that we like in some areas of the world, that they have the right to build houses of worship, and for religions that we don't like that they do not have the right to build houses of worship.

A universal human right of freedom of religion is not "relative" to only those we agree with and to only certain parts of the world.

Such inalienable human rights for all people is the human code of conduct that supports laws to ensure orderly life, a standard of respect and human dignity that we each should expect, and most importantly, the trust that we must find within each other as human beings for continued co-existence on our shared Earth.

We ensure equality and liberty on a local level, in part, by ensuring that no one is above the law. On a global level, the stakes and the consequences for world peace are even greater. If we seek peace, dignity, and justice, we must also agree that no one is above our unqualified, universal human rights.

No one is "above the law" of our universal human rights, and no one has the right to deny our freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and freedom of worship - by anyone, any place, at any time.

Our commitment to such universal human rights also requires a commitment to pluralism for all faiths. We don't have to agree with each other on our religious views, or lack thereof, but we do have to respect each others right to our own beliefs.

We have a right to disagree with those who we believe are using religious faiths to promote supremacist hatred that attacks on our universal human rights. Moreover, we cannot ignore those who would use a religious disguise to incite criminal violence which we must reject. Inciting and committing criminal violence is not a protected religious right or worship. But too often, those who seek "relative" human rights seek mere disagreement with those of other faiths as a justification to prevent their freedom of religion and freedom of worship.

We also have an obligation to respect each others universal human rights for all faiths, conscience, and freedom of worship - no matter who seeks such freedoms, no matter where they seek such freedoms, no matter how much we may disagree with them.

Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "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."

On December 10, 1948, the nations of the world joined together to create a Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948 as the world's statement of "Never Again" to the hate of people of diverse races, religions, ethnic backgrounds, and beliefs. Seen in the context of the world reeling from the Nazi Holocaust of 6 million Jews, the UDHR remains one of the strongest international statements on consistent human rights for all people, and for people of all faiths. But when it comes to a right to worship freely, "never again" is now in too many parts of the world.

Such universal human rights and commitment to pluralism must not only extend to the nations that are signatories to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also to all nations and all people around the world. But to reach those individuals and nations that do not accept such unqualified, universal human rights of freedom of conscience, it is essential that those who do - set an example for the world.

We urge the people of the world to make a new consistent commitment to pluralism and to our unqualified, universal human rights. We stand united together, respecting our differences, and respecting one another. We are one common civilization of humanity, with diverse races, ethnic backgrounds, languages, genders, and religions. But we are all one human race. While we respect our differences, a consistent commitment to pluralism requires our united commitment to our unqualified, universal human rights - including the right to believe for all people, everywhere - without harassment, without intimidation, and without violence.

We urge such commitment to all people and their right to freedom of worship, to set an example to all others that we are Responsible for Equality and Liberty.

Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.