Is Freedom of Religion Endangered in the United States?

[Draggingtree]

The American Interest:

 

 

Is Freedom of Religion Endangered in the United States?

 

Peter Berger

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced a “Fortnight of Freedom” to last from June 21 to July 4. The event, based on the presupposition that religious freedom is endangered in this country, is planned as a very visible demonstration. The “Fortnight” not only ends with the celebration of the major patriotic holiday, but includes the feast day of John Fisher and Thomas More, both martyrs to the Roman Catholic faith, executed for treason for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. They were certainly killed for their loyalty to the faith, but at least in the case of one of them the association with religious freedom is rather shaky: I don’t know about Fisher, but More, in his earlier days as a high official in the government, ordered the burning of heretics on the stake. The planned event will have a closing mass, on July 4, at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception; the celebrant is to be Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington. In other words, the bishops are deploying massive symbolic artillery. Is the presupposition of the event plausible? Is there a crisis of religious freedom in this country?

It seems to me that, empirically speaking, the answer is no. Compared to a depressingly long list of other countries, the United States is a veritable paradise of religious freedom. A few hours ago, to clear my mind for the writing of this post, I read the 2012 report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a rather reliable source in this matter; I am still depressed. Many read more

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/berger/2012/06/27/is-freedom-of-religion-endangered-in-the-united-states/