



Sixty-six years later, however, 5.8 billion people -- 76 percent of the world's population -- live in countries with a high or very high level of restrictions on religious freedom, an estimate based on the Pew Research Center's most recent study of religious hostilities and oppression across the world.

The abject failure of governments to uphold the Universal Declaration has had dire consequences in the 21st century. It is no exaggeration to say denial of religious freedom is today a leading cause of repression, division and conflict across the world.

Consider that in recent weeks alone:

* The Chinese government banned any practice of religion in state institutions, public schools and businesses in the Xinjiang region in an attempt to further repress the Uyghur Muslim population.

* A Christian couple in Pakistan's Punjab province was lynched and another man hacked to death by a policeman for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Islam. Blasphemy is a capital crime in Pakistan -- and villagers often take matters into their own hands.


* The French Interior Minister announced anti-Semitic threats and incidents in France have more than doubled this year. Feeling frightened and unsafe, thousands of Jews are leaving the country.

From the burning of churches and mosques in East African countries to the destruction of ancient Christian communities in Iraq and Syria to the imprisonment of Baha'i leaders in Iran, much of the world's population suffers from religious persecution, extremism and hatred.

That's why the United States must move religious freedom from the margins of foreign policy to the center of our relationships with other nations, including strategic allies such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia -- two of the worst violators of religious freedom in the world.


Without religious freedom, there will be no lasting peace.

Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute, Washington.