Theosthinktank.co.uk: Two pastors facing the death penalty in Sudan, a family fleeing ISIS in Iraq, atheist bloggers in Bangladesh and kidnapped school girls in Nigeria – what do these people have in common? In each case, their right to freedom of religion or belief – the most important human right – is under attack. Perhaps you think that’s an outrageous claim – how can I possibly say that religious freedom is the most important human right? More than the right to a fair trial, the right to freedom from torture, the right to freedom from slavery? Let me answer that in the words of Justin Welby, who wrote an op-ed for the Times on this very issue: “Humans are made in the image of God, so our religious beliefs are a core part of what it is to be human. To take away a person’s freedom of belief or non-belief is to violate the core of their humanity”. To have freedom of religion – the right to believe or not to believe, and the right to change belief – is essential to being human. Our thoughts, our conscience and our convictions are integral to who we are. Yet, as yesterday’s debate in the House of Lords served to prove, this right is being denied across the world. And at a truly alarming rate. Lord Alton of Liverpool, who led the debate, saw it as another opportunity to raise the profile of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, fittingly dubbed an ‘orphaned right’. “From North Korea to Syria”, he said, “Article 18 is honoured daily in its breach, evident in new concentration camps, abductions, rape, imprisonment, persecution, public flogging, mass murder, beheadings and the mass displacement of millions of people”.
Categories: Accepting Islam, Asia