Around the globe, millions of people suffer human rights violations due to their religious beliefs and identities. Countless members of religious groups are subject to violence and abuse, including Catholics and Falon Gong in China, Jews in Hungary, Bahá'ís in Egypt, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Hare Krishnas in Russia, Shia and Sufi Muslims in Iran, and Ahmaddiya Muslims in Pakistan.
More people were killed in the 20th century for their religious beliefs than in all previous centuries combined. THE INSTITUTE invites you to join us in our mission to ensure freedom of religion as the foundation for security, stability, and democracy throughout the world.
In 1979, when my mother was only 16 years old, she and her 15-year-old brother fled Iran in the middle of the night, traveling to India by train. They were members of the Bahá’í Faith, and, like many Bahá’ís in Iran, they were forced to leave her homeland because of their beliefs.
Hell or Hope? The Choice is Ours.
By Reverend Nathan C. Walker
It is dangerous to create a system where government officials use their religious worldview to determine the legitimacy of others’ beliefs. In doing so, officials could take away not only the freedom of others to practice their religion, but also to regulate the speech of others based on their own beliefs or disbeliefs.
THE INSTITUTE commends the Republic of Zambia for providing a generous and laudable framework that protects the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion. The Article establishes the right of a person, either individually or in community with others, in public or in private, to manifest any religion or belief through worship, observance, practice or teaching.