Why Study The US Constitution and Religious Liberty Now?

Today, religious liberty is in a global crisis.  Outside the West, where religion is growing, the idea of religious freedom is just a paper tiger.  Although most nations have signed international covenants and enacted constitutional provisions that purport to guarantee religious liberty, in truth, almost no nation outside the West has protected that right in practice. In Europe, where religion is declining, the public expression of religion is no longer respected.  According to the Pew Research Center, 75% of the world's population lives in countries in which religious freedom is either highly or very highly restricted. Most of them live in 66 countries that are either Muslim-majority nations or communist regimes.  In the last 5 to 10 years, the problem has been getting worse. Restrictions on religious freedom increased  twice as often as they decreased. The religious minorities most subject to harassment were Christians, who were harassed in 139 nations, and Muslims, were a close second.  Many of the nations with the highest restrictions on religious freedom are Muslim nations, including the theocratic autocracies of Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also in struggling democracies such as Afghanistan and Iraq where America has spent its precious blood for more than a decade. After the overthrow of the Taliban and Saddam, religious persecution subsided temporarily. But, like an infection that was never fully eliminated, persecution returned with a vengeance. 

            Surprisingly, Europe, compared with all other regions, has the largest proportion of nations in which social hostilities toward religion are rising.  Hostilities in the United Kingdom, for example, increased so much that the UK now stands in the company of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the category of "high" social hostilities.  This is quite extraordinary and should be a cautionary tale for us in America.  

Religious Liberty: A Commentary by Fr. Barron See link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sh9AiESvImM#t=349

French government restrictions increased enough to move France ahead of Cuba in that category.  On balance, it is fair to say that religious freedom is not faring well in Europe.  Historically, brutal tyrants from Stalin, Hitler, and Mao have sought to eliminate religious ideas and actors altogether or intimidate and suppress them in order to keep their regimes in power.  What is new, and profoundly troubling, is that we are seeing today the rejection of religious freedom not simply by authoritarian regimes in places like China, but by democratic majorities in places like Egypt where voters are unable to appreciate the significance of constitutionally protected religious freedoms.

            The root of the problem in western democracies is that religious freedom is treated as irrelevant to political and cultural development.  Religion is viewed as a threat to progress.  In America, we face an aggressive secularist elite that refuses to permit religiously-informed moral arguments into public discourse.  While it is fine for us to practice our religion in church, progressive democracy requires that we keep it there.  Progressives justify marginalizing religion because it can be used malevolently to enflame the passion for war.  This progressive strategy has worked; not only against religion, but against the whole concept of constitutional democracy grounded in liberty.  Studies show that constitutionally protected religious freedom is highly correlated with the consolidation and longevity of democracy, and with other goods such as economic development, the equality of women, and the absence of violent religious extremism.  If we are to effectively advance religious freedom in this country, then our constitutional roots need to be strengthened.  Strengthening our understanding of the value of the US Constitution in preserving our religious freedom is the purpose of this condensed 6-week lecture series.  We invite all of you to take an active role in small group discussions to follow.