PATTERNS AND CONTEXTS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND PERSECUTION

Religious oppression is on the rise in the majority of the most populous countries-China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, etc. Radical Islam, Communism/post-Communism, South Asian religious/ethnic nationalism, and intra-religious repression all create environments of religious persecution. Western responses to the rise of religious persecution have been hampered by a persistent “secular myopia” among media and government elites which prevents them from seeing the enormously important role religion plays in human events. If we are to take religious freedom seriously, we must take religion seriously.