This week, Russia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s supreme court labeled Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153extremist group,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d banning their operations in the country, ordering the government to seize the denomination\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s property, and shutting down the group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Russian headquarters along with its nearly 400 local chapters.<\/p>\n
Mormons came to Utah fleeing religious persecution. Whether or not one is a Latter-day Saint, this history should inspire a special empathy in this state for the oppressed. By some estimates, nearly 70 percent of the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s population lives under regimes with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153high restrictions\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on religion.<\/p>\n
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\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have to remind people that these (religious freedom) violations are not just statistics. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not just short news stories. These are human beings and families,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said the Rev. Thomas Reese, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Liberty. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking for ways to make this more visible.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
This week, the bipartisan commission on religious liberty released its annual report and, for the first time since the report began, the commission placed Russia on the list of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153countries of particular concern,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which also includes Syria, China and Iran, among others. The report further warned Western European countries of an increasing trend toward anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.<\/p>\n
To combat complacency and apathy when approaching the topic of religious freedom abroad, citizens can be vigilant in securing religious liberty at home by practicing their faith traditions. As the number of religious \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nones\u00e2\u20ac\u009d swells, support for pro-social religion is critical in America.<\/p>\n
The report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Liberty emphasizes the human impact of religious oppression.<\/p>\n
There are devastating micro and macro costs to restricting religious liberty.<\/p>\n
According to researchers Brian Grim and Roger Finke, greater religious freedom in a country correlates with reduced religion-related conflicts; it diminishes human suffering and improves economic stability, allowing for greater economic activity.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, religious liberty also correlates with increased levels of trust and reduced levels of corruption. Grim and Finke highlight how religious freedom is part of a bundle of human rights that work to foster other pro-social outcomes, including better health care, improved livability, increased gender empowerment, higher wages for women and greater GDP.<\/p>\n
As the Rev. Reese reminds Americans and the world, these are not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just statistics.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d These are human beings. The costs to these individuals and families is real.<\/p>\n
Studies suggest that greater religious freedom at home and abroad can increase safety and socioeconomic stability. Religious liberty is the foundation of civil society and an important catalyst for increased human flourishing.<\/p>\n
For the sake of its own people, Russia would do well to reverse course. For its part, the United States must remain vigilant to continually shore up its first freedom at home while promoting it abroad.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.deseretnews.com\/article\/865678889\/In-our-opinion-There-are-devastating-costs-to-restricting-religious-liberty.html\u00c2\u00a0<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"America must never become numb to human rights violations, especially the suffering caused by infringing on religious liberty. Citizens can start by protecting America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first freedom at home and championing it abroad. This week, Russia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-news","category-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2887"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5744,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887\/revisions\/5744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}