Economist: PEOPLE can usually recognise an egregious violation of religious freedom when they see one. Take two cases that were mentioned in a recent speech by Barack Obama on freedom of conscience round the world. Kenneth Bae is a Korean-American missionary who has been sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour by the authorities in North Korea; he suffers from multiple health problems but he was recently transferred from hospital to a remote labour camp. Saeed Abedini is an Iranian-American pastor who has been incarcerated since early 2012, suffered injuries during interrogation, and was recently moved to an even harsher prison. And, lest anyone think he is concerned only about the fate of Americans and Christians, Mr Obama, who was speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual gathering of religious and political leaders, also pledged to lobby for Uighur Muslims and Buddhists in China, the Muslims and Christians of mainly Buddhist Burma, and the Ahmadiya Muslims in Pakistan.
Would it be better, in an era when human rights are under pressure across the world, if the job of campaigning for religious freedom was shared by all liberal democracies? And wouldn’t it make sense for legislators, who are supposed to respond to the keenest concerns of their constituents, to do the lion’s share of this work? Particularly given that the executive arm of government usually tempers its concern for freedom with pragmatic considerations like commerce and geopolitics.
Categories: Americas