According to the National Catholic Register, Thomas Farr, who directs Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs addressed the bishops at their annual spring meeting in Atlanta, calling religious persecution a "global crisis."
Farr presented evidence showing that religious persecution around the world is getting worse, not better, with Christians bearing the brunt of this animosity. And it's not just happening where you would expect, such as in Muslim countries, but is becoming increasingly evident in western nations as well, such as in Europe and the United States.
As evidence for labeling the problem “a global crisis,” Farr cited studies by the Pew Research Center which found that "70 percent of the world’s population lives in countries in which religious freedom is either highly or very highly restricted, either by governments or private actors. That is almost three out of four human beings on the planet."
Most of these people live in 66 countries which are either Muslim-majority nations or communist regimes such as China, North Korea, Cuba and Vietnam. It is also becoming increasingly prevalent in non-Muslim nations such as India, Burma and Russia.
Because the most problematic countries tend to be the most populous, religious persecution is impacting some 2.2 billion people - or a third of the world's population - at the current time.
"The religious minorities most subject to harassment in these and other countries were Christians, who were harassed in 130 nations, and Muslims, who were a close second at 117," Farr said.
Surprisingly, Europe has the largest proportion of nations in which social hostilities toward religion are on the rise. “Hostilities in the United Kingdom, for example, increased so much that the U.K. now stands in the company of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the category of ‘high social hostilities,’ ” he said.
"On balance, it is fair to say that religious freedom is not faring well in the continent where its theological and intellectual origins lie, and that should be a cautionary tale for us."
The problem is that "religion in Europe is no longer seen as intrinsic to human dignity and social flourishing," Farr explained. "It is generally understood as merely an opinion and, as a species, a dangerous opinion at that: While it is fine to practice your religion in churches, synagogues, mosques and temples, democracy requires that you keep it there. To bring it into politics endangers democracy.
"This malevolent idea, which was most famously championed by the American political philosopher John Rawls, is gaining considerable purchase in our own country. It gives reason for profound concern, not only for religious individuals, but for the whole concept of democracy grounded in ordered liberty — both here and abroad."
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