US Denounces Violators of Religious Freedom

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken formally denounced China, Russia, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Eritrea, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan for “engaging in systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.”

The specific anti-religious actions noted by Blinken include “discrimination against person espousing beliefs that contradict government policies, banning religious gatherings to worship, censoring dissenting views, and threatening or imprisoning those who resist the government's efforts to reeducate them. In far too many places around the world we continue to see governments harass, arrest, threaten, jail, and kill individuals simply for seeking to live their lives in accordance with their beliefs.”

Blinken rejected criticisms pointing out that the Biden Administration and various US state and local governments have similarly assailed religious gatherings, issued blanket denials of exemptions to being forced to take covid vaccines, or compelled to fund or participate in performing abortions, saying “it's not the same. All of our coercion has been done to protect the public health. Church gatherings can become super spreaders of covid. Permitting individuals to escape being vaccinated on religious grounds allows these individuals to become 'typhoid Marys' and endanger the loyal vaccinated members of society. And the right to an abortion is a constitutional right that was declared in 1973. This was after the First Amendment was adopted in 1791. As such, it supersedes the right to freedom of religion.”