State Favored Religions’ Impact on Religious Freedom

Governments around the world use many different strategies to control or repress religion, but a common tactic is for the state to elevate a particular religion to a special status in ways that can marginalize different faiths or belief systems. USCIRF’s recently released report, “A Global Overview of Official and Favored Religions and Global Implications for Religious Freedom,” looks at 78 countries that identify an official or favored religion and subsequently enforce that religion, or a particular interpretation of that religion, through the law. While several countries that maintain these relevant laws do not enforce them or even have a legal framework to enforce them, some countries take these laws seriously and are, in fact, some of the worst violators of freedom of religion or belief. Kurt Werthmuller, Supervisory Policy Analyst and author of this report, joins us today to discuss the findings of this report.Read the full report on “A Global Overview of Official and Favored Religions and Global Implications for Religious Freedom”With Contributions from:Kurt Wertmuller, Supervisory Policy Analyst, USCIRFJamie Staley, Supervisory Policy Advisor, USCIRFVeronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF