Christian Nations at Top of Countries with Greatest Religious Freedom According to Study
...a country with religious freedom violation tended to also have restricted economic freedom.
(Washington, DC)—The Christian Post reports that countries with Christian backgrounds have the best religious freedom record. That is according to the initial findings of an extensive report called, Religious Freedom in the World 2007, an upcoming book to be released next year showing the four countries with the highest religious freedom rating as being Hungary, Ireland, Estonia, and the United States.
Countries run by atheist governments, such as communist China, Vietnam, and North Korea, were reportedly ranked near the bottom, along with countries with Islamic backgrounds such as Pakistan, Palestinian areas, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Turkmenistan.
"In general, either extreme religious or extreme secular state together comprises most of the world's religiously restricted parties," commented Paul Marshall, general editor of Religious Freedom in the World 2007 and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom.
In addition, notes reporter Michelle Vu, the survey findings discovered a correlation between a country's low religious freedom status and low economic freedom. In other words, she notes, a country with religious freedom violation tended to also have restricted economic freedom.
Nina Shea, the director of the Center for Religious Freedom, and a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, believes using political leverage to press a country to honor the basic right of religious freedom is more effective than inter-religious dialogue, explaining that many times religious dialogue occurs with the wrong people who have no control over sectarian violence.
