Faith Under Fire
The Times view on the preservation of religious freedom:
Excepting only the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, there is no more important statement of liberty than the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom of 1786. Its author, Thomas Jefferson, urged that religious belief is an inviolable principle of private judgment and that there should be no religious test for public office.
It is a dismal fact of the modern era that Jefferson’s words remain vital yet unobserved in large parts of the world, and that religious persecution has increased even in the past decade. The subjugation of believers is a humanitarian crisis of the first order as we approach the third decade of the 21st century.
Christians across the globe will tomorrow celebrate the birth of Christ. They will affirm their faith that, in ancient Palestine two millennia ago, God became flesh and assumed the tribulations of suffering humanity. In Britain and other democracies they will pay no civic cost for their freedom of worship, assembly and belief.
Sadly, the same is not always true of Christians elsewhere. A review led by Philip Mounstephen, the Bishop of Truro, and commissioned by Jeremy Hunt when he was foreign secretary, concluded this year that the persecution of Christians is at near-genocide levels in some parts of the world.
It is an under-reported crime. Mr Hunt suggested that a form of political correctness was obscuring the plight of Christians worldwide, even though in many societies they form an impoverished minority. There is a lot to be said for this as an explanation for the invisibility of the persecution of Christians. Yet even if the discrimination and disadvantage were pursued against more powerful minorities, it would still be iniquitous.
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