21Wilberforce, a human rights organization named for William Wilberforce, a 19th-century British lawmaker who was key in the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, has launched Freedom Center, a new resource for human rights advocacy.
Religious leaders gathered last week at the Church of Scientology of Bogotá for an interreligious prayer service and to sign the Interconfessional Declaration of Religious Freedom in Colombia.
On Dec. 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was ratified in Paris. Forty-eight nations signed the Declaration, which, in article 18, enshrines freedom of religion.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Monday that the Department of Justice is creating a religious liberty task force. It is co-chaired by Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio and the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy, Beth Williams.
Chair of Bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and Vice Chair Kristina Arriaga put last week’s Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom into perspective.
July 24 marks the beginning of the 3-day Ministerial, convened by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as one of his first actions upon assuming office in May 2018.
Lord Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the United Nations, has been named the UK’s first Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief.
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, the signing of which is celebrated throughout America today, was also a staunch advocate of religious freedom.
Presentation by Rev. Eric Roux, Vice President of the Church of Scientology European Office of Public Affairs and Human Rights at the Faith and Freedom Summit in Brussels
Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback visits Nigeria, prompted by U.S. concern over the state of religious freedom in that country.
The Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE) announces the Faith and Freedom Summit: Practicing what we Preach in Europe, to take place June 28th in Brussels, at the Solvay Library.
March – April 2018 of the Journal of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions) features a number of recent studies on the Scientology religion.
Maryam Pougetoux, 19, leader of the Sorbonne chapter of the French National Students’ Union, found herself at the center of a controversy for wearing a head scarf in a television interview.
U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in the CAR Najat Rochdi says an upsurge of violence in April and May has sent many returning refugees fleeing to neighboring Cameroon and Chad. She says one in four people in the country is now displaced.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged the administrations support for religious freedom May 29 at a news conference to release the annual International Religious Freedom Report.
Interview on CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) with U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback on the government’s views on the imprisonment of Rev. Andrew Brunson.
An article May 20 in the Asia Times presents insight into the influence of the Islamic State in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Islamic country.
In its 2018 Blog Awards, Feedspot, a content reader and social network for RSS users, has ranked the ScientologyReligion.org blog at number 10 in the category, “Top 50 Religious Blogs and Websites about the World of Religion.”
The rise of hatred, hostility, discrimination and violence based on religion or belief was the subject of the first presentation by United Nations Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
A report released this week by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom details religious freedom violations in India against religious minorities and Hindu Dalits and offers recommendations for the Indian government and the U.S. government.
In a message from the Vatican for World Communications Day, Pope Francis urged news organizations to change the lens through which they view “reality” and to move beyond reporting only “bad news” and instead to concentrate on solutions.
Religious freedom advocacy group 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative (21CWI) sent a letter to President Trump this week, signed by 715 human rights and religious liberty proponents encouraging the administration to swiftly nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.
Persecution of Christians worldwide hit an all-time high in 2016, according to Open Doors USA in its annual World Watch List . The nonprofit, nondenominational international organization released its 25th annual list at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
A recent Op-Ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer by U.S. State Department religious freedom leaders points to an important nexus in religious freedom abuses and other points of national security.
In an address to a prayer service congregation at Alleluia Ministries in Sandton, Johannesburg, South African Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko challenged religious leaders in to do their part to end justification of unethical and even illegal acts in the name of religion.
The United States Army this week authorized religiously mandated beards and turbans for active-duty military personnel, ending discrimination against Sikhs and others.
New controls on religious travel and literature ignore OSCE recommendations and violate Kazakstan’s international human rights commitments.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has appointed Erin D. Singshinsuk as its new Executive Director.
In 2016 Christmas Thought for the Day, Prince Charles spoke out against religious persecution and urged respect for those of different faiths. Prince Charles opened his Christmas Thought for the Day broadcast for BBC Radio 4 with the story of a recent meeting with a Jesuit priest from Syria.
A recurring theme of extremists, governmental or private sector, who attack religions is that children should be separated from their parents to “protect” them from adopting their parent’s freely chosen religious beliefs.
In 2011, Congressman Frank R. Wolf introduced the first bill to amend and strengthen the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA).
When President Obama signed the International Religious Freedom Act into law today, religious freedom received a significant boost in U.S. Government policy with impact around the world.
Just three months since launch, the scientologyreligion.org religious freedom blog has been recognized by Feedspot as one of the 50 best religion blogs on the Internet.
On December 7, 2016, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously passed HR 1150, the Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, sending it to the full Senate for consideration.
A symposium, Religious Freedom and the Common Good, was held November 15, 2016, at Georgetown University.
Continuing its mission to reduce global restrictions on religion, the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Roundtable met this month in the Kennedy Caucus Room in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill.
On November 18, 2016, Vietnam’s 14th National Assembly passed a new law on religion. Human rights advocates worldwide quickly denounced the law for its violation of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) , which the Vietnamese government ratified in 1982.
David N. Saperstein is the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. He is a principal advisor to the President and Secretary of State and serves as the country’s chief diplomat on issues of religious freedom worldwide.
Economic growth is driven by just three factors, experts say, and religious freedom is one of them.
The Church of Scientology National Affairs Office bestowed a humanitarian award on Ms. Cynthia Roseberry , Project Manager for Clemency Project 2014 and member of the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections.
Religious Freedom Mandate Extended Three Years to 2016 On 1 November 2016, Ahmed Shaheed assumed his mandate as Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.
How one mother’s defense of her religious beliefs has become a desperate fight for her life.
In the final presentation to the UN General Assembly of his tenure on October 28, 2016, Mr. Heiner Bielefeldt, United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, urged member nations to guard against all forms of religious discrimination and intolerance.
EU Special Envoy for freedom of religion or belief outside the European Union seeks to make religious freedom in the Middle East a focus of attention.
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) offers guidelines on the issues of registration and recognition of religious or belief communities.
Today, October 27, is International Religious Freedom Day. This year it commemorates the 17th anniversary of the enactment of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA). The International Religious Freedom Act was passed by an overwhelmingly bipartisan initiative in the U.S.
Government-sponsored anti-religious hate groups were spotlighted at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw in September 2016.
When members of the United States Congress return to Washington after the elections in November, religious freedom advocates are hopeful the Senate will pass H.R. 1150, the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act
