Obama Trivializes Freedom of Religion

Barack Obama’s administration, which has lately shown open hostility to the Church, has removed a section dedicated to freedom of religion from the annual report about human rights. This is an event without precedent, especially since the level of human rights abuses in this field was dramatically high in 2011.

The report from the State Department regarding human rights was published three months later this year, but that is not the biggest surprise. For the first time, the report did not have a section chronicling the abuse of religious rights around the globe. Is it safe to assume that these abuses did not take place last year? It is worthy of mention that the Arab Spring, fueled by Islamic fundamentalists, has brought with it a wave of anti-Christian activity. Significant violations were also recorded in Afghanistan, North Korea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan. … All of these incidents were left out of the report, and this sends a signal to those responsible that the rest of the world doesn’t care. The website containing the report contains a footnote directing anyone interested in religious persecution to the 2010 report. Asked by our reporters about the possible reasons behind these peculiar actions, Italian sociologist Massimo Intovigne notes that the United States wants to avoid criticism regarding its own actions toward religious freedom. “If the United States were to criticize the lack of religious freedom in other countries, others would point out that American bishops have long protested against certain rules limiting freedom of religion in the U.S. It also seems that freedom of religion is not a priority for President Barack Obama.”

Thomas Farr, head of the Office of International Religious Freedom under President Clinton and President Bush, has echoed the same sentiment. Speaking to CNS News, Farr said that “the Obama administration is downplaying international religious freedom.” This cavalier attitude toward religion and hostility toward the Roman Catholic Church was put on display in the recent HHS mandate which requires Catholic organizations to finance abortion, contraception and sterilization drugs.

In response to this war on religion, the Episcopate of the United States initiated a campaign named “Fortnight for Freedom.” It has an educational character and encourages the participation of lay Catholics. Participation has been declared by several organizations, such as the lay Catholic organization TCA and CatholicVote. Both organizations have released ads explaining why they cannot abide by the HHS mandate, which violates freedom of religion and free association. “We didn’t ask for the fight, but we’re not going to back away from it,” declared Archbishop Timothy Dolan in an ad for CatholicVote.