We explain what religious freedom is and why it is important in today's society. Also, its history and where it is threatened.
What is freedom of religion?
Freedom of worship or freedom of religion is one of the fundamental rights of humanity, which allows everyone to freely choose and profess their religion, mystical beliefs or their atheism or agnosticism without ever becoming a victim of oppression, discrimination or forced conversion.
Recognized in numerous international treaties and documents, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 18), freedom of religion goes far beyond mere religious tolerance, since it is not simply about tolerating others' practices. beliefs in a separate room, but of guarantee through laws and the State that such practices are free, peaceful and free from persecution.
The latter is, naturally, possible to a greater extent in secular States (that is, without official religion), despite the fact that even in those cases there is a majority religion, transmitted generationally and strongly anchored in tradition. But this does not mean that the State should take positions to favor one Church over another, quite the opposite: in the West, religion and worship are private, personal, intimate matters.
Unfortunately, this reality It is not always fulfilled in all countries of the world and there are still numerous cases of crimes committed against religious minorities, especially in theocracies and nations with fundamentalist culture. Freedom of religion is often considered equivalent to freedom of conscience, that is, the freedom to think what you want and have the opinion you want to have.
Freedom of religion is common among modern liberal democracies, especially in the West. However, in previous times the persecution of the Jews, for example, was common in Europe. Furthermore, in the Middle Ages the “holy” wars against Islam sent thousands of Muslims and Christians to their deaths.
This is not to mention the work of forced conversion and punishment and torture carried out by the Holy Catholic Inquisition in Europe and America, persecuting any form of unofficial worship, considered at that time heretical, sinful and contrary to divine law.
According to the report on religious freedom prepared by the United States Government (2007), today religious freedom is under threat in countries such as Burma, China, North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Eritrea, Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia, and in to a lesser extent in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Laos, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam, despite relative progress in the matter achieved by their governments.
Continue with: Freedom of the press
References
- “Freedom of worship” on Wikipedia.
- “Freedom of worship” in Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman, P.C.
- “Religious freedom and freedom of conscience” by Gabriel González Merlano (lecture) at the Catholic University of Uruguay.
- “Freedom of Religion” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
