Commemorating International Religious Freedom Day
Posted at 01:37 PM ET, 10/27/2012
Oct 27, 2012 05:37 PM EDT
TheWashingtonPost
By Katrina Lantos Swett
Katrina Lantos Swett is the chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Across the globe, religion and belief continue to matter deeply in the lives of people and their cultures. From worship to prayer, births to funerals, weddings to holy days, almsgiving to thanksgiving, religion is a central source of identity, meaning, and purpose for billions of human beings.
Because religion matters, so does religious freedom. Simply stated, most people strive to practice their beliefs peacefully as they see fit. They seek to think as they please, believe or not believe as their conscience leads, and live out their convictions openly and peacefully.
Beginning with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, nations around the world have freely assented to international standards which have enshrined this fundamental right.
On Saturday, the United States is celebrating this right by observing International Religious Freedom Day. This celebration marks the day in 1998 that the International Religious Freedom Act was signed. The new law created an international religious freedom office in the U.S. State Department, headed by a new Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, on which I serve.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/commemorating-international-religious-freedom-day/2012/10/27/119afe58-2058-11e2-9cd5-b55c38388962_blog.html
http://www.uscirf.gov/
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