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As September 11’s attacks delayed the release of the 2001 International Religious Freedom Report, a senior fellow with Washington, D.C.’s Freedom House fears the war on terrorism could have negative short-term consequences.

Freedom House’s Paul Marshall, who wrote a 330-page report on the massacre of 20 Christians last year in Egypt, is concerned the need for anti-terrorism alliances could dampen the United States’ criticism of repressive governments.

“But in the long term, if the campaign is successful in tamping down radical movements, to the degree they are dimmed there will be an increase in religious freedom,” Marshall said.

Released October 26-about six weeks late-the US State Department report cited 14 nations with exerting authoritarian control or showing hostility to various religious groups.

The totalitarian rulers attempting to crack down on religion included the now-overthrown Taliban in Afghanistan, Burma, China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam. Those cited for state hostility towards “non-approved” religions were Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Half of this group were also named by Secretary of State Colin Powell as Countries of Particular Concern (CPC). The designation makes a country subject to US diplomatic and economic sanctions.

North Korea was the only newcomer to the CPC list, replacing Serbia. The rest-the Taliban, Burma, China, Iran, Iraq and Sudan-were all listed in 2000.

Both the official from Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom and a spokesperson for a veteran missions organization, however, question the exclusion of Saudi Arabia from CPC status.

“The State Department says that in Saudi Arabia religious freedom does not exist,” Marshall said. Other than that oversight, he said, “We think the report is pretty good.”

Earlier this year, Open Doors, the Holland-based ministry to the suffering church, ranked the Middle Eastern nation as the worst offender on its “World Watch,” a persecution list most recently compiled in July (see box on page 5). “Saudi Arabia has long been number one on the list,” said Karen Yates, Open Doors’ US media coordinator in Santa Ana, Calif. “It’s very difficult to get any literature inside the country. Christians aren’t allowed to meet publicly, and they are denied a lot of freedoms.”

The report, which Marshall called “fairly accurate,” included numerous details of religious repression (see box below).

Despite the litany of bad news, the State Department said progress is occurring. It listed 18 countries that have taken positive steps toward improving respect for religious freedom.

Marshall, however, called it difficult to discern the impact of the good news, saying the report isn’t user-friendly. “You get as much information about what’s happening in Germany as you do in Pakistan,” he said, referring to one of the 14 worst offenders. “What’s happening in Pakistan is much more urgent than what’s happening in Germany.”

The State Department also tends to sometimes describe events in euphemistic terms, softening the reality of what happened, Marshall said. He pointed to last year’s uprising in the village of El-Kosheh, where 20 Christians and one Muslim died.

While this year’s report noted that 92 of 96 defendants were acquitted and that Coptic authorities believed the verdicts were “inappropriately lenient,” Marshall said the US originally described the situation as a conflict between Christians and Muslims, when it wasn’t.

“This was a massacre,” he said. “The only Muslim who died was killed accidentally by another Muslim. One family was executed in the fields. A church deacon was killed after refusing to convert.”

Still, Marshall believes the three-year-old annual report is having an impact. While difficult to determine what prods foreign governments to act, he sees its main impact as domestic. He said it trains a media spotlight on abuses, helps set US policies and requires diplomats to monitor religious repression.

Although disheartened to see so much religious persecution taking place, Yates isn’t shocked by the report because Open Doors deals with such situations daily.

“In God’s Word it says we will face persecution for being a Christian,” she said. “In the West we don’t understand the difficulty of making a decision to follow Christ that someone in Afghanistan or Turk-menistan faces. We have so much freedom, and our influence is so strong. To take that influence and use it so people in places like Afghanistan can worship freely would be wonderful.”

Based in Louisville, Ky., Ken Walker has covered current events and missions news for various Christian publications.

February 8, 2002