SECRETARY KERRY: Today we present the department’s International Religious Freedom
Report for 2014. And I particularly want to thank David Saperstein
and his entire team for producing a report that reflects a vast amount of objective research
and that will provide a uniquely valuable resource for anybody who cares about religious
freedom in all of its aspects. And I am very grateful for David’s willingness to come
on board. He has provided important new energy and focus on this, is building a terrific
team, and I think you’re going to hear more and more from the Department with respect
to our fight to protect people’s right to exercise religious freedom.
The message at the heart of this report is that countries benefit when their citizens
fully enjoy the rights to which they are entitled. And this is not a hopeful theory; this is
a proven reality. No nation can fulfill its potential if its people are denied the right
to practice, to hold, to modify, to openly profess their innermost beliefs.
I should emphasize that the concept of religious freedom extends way beyond mere tolerance.
It is a concept grounded in respect for the rights and beliefs of others. It is deeply
connected to our DNA as Americans – to everything that we are and everything that we came from.
It’s a concept that is based on respect, and respect, in turn, demands legal equality.
It demands that the practitioners of one faith understand that they have no right to coerce
others into submission, conversion, or silence, or to literally take their lives because of
their beliefs. The purpose of this annual report is to highlight
the importance of religious freedom not by lecturing but through advocacy and through
persuasion. Our primary goal is to help governments everywhere recognize that their societies
will do better with religious liberty than without it. The world has learned through
very hard experience that religious pluralism encourages and enables contributions from
all; while religious discrimination is often the source of conflicts that endanger all.
By issuing this report, we hope to give governments an added incentive to honor the rights and
the dignity of their citizens; but the report also has the benefit of equipping interested
observers with an arsenal of facts. And one of the more consequential facts of
our era has been the convergence – really, the development of a sort of new phenomenon
of non-state actors who, unlike the last century and the violence that we saw and persecution
that we saw that emanated from states, are now the principal persecutors and preventers
of religious tolerance and practice. Most prominent, and most harmful, obviously, has
been the rise of international terrorist groups such as Daesh, al-Qaida, al-Shabaab, Boko
Haram. And all have been guilty of vicious acts of unprovoked violence.
Under their control, captives have been given a choice between conversion or slavery or
death. Children have been among the victims, and also among those forced to witness or
participate in executions – sometimes even of their own family members. Entire populations
of religious minority groups have been targeted for killing. Terrified young girls have been
separated out by religion and sold into slavery. The repugnance of these acts is only multiplied
when the perpetrators seek to justify themselves by pointing a finger at God and claiming somehow
that God licensed these acts. We are, and we will continue, to oppose these groups with
far more than words of condemnation that are contained in this report.
We will also continue to help the survivors. In the Middle East, and in Africa, we are
assisting local partners in responding to the needs – both physical and psychological
– of women and girls who have escaped or been released after having been held captive
by terrorist groups. Each victim, each nightmare, each wound is another reason to urgently address
the root causes of violent extremism. And before closing, I just want to make three
general points. First, as much as we oppose the actions of
terrorists, we do not agree with governments that use those crimes as a pretext for prohibiting
religious activities that are in fact nonviolent and legitimate. Those who misuse the terms
“terrorist” and “extremist” are not fooling anybody, and trying to dictate an
artificial conformity of religious expression is not a prescription for harmony. It is a
prescription for frustration, anger, and rebellion. And we have learned time and again that if
citizens are denied the rights to practice and express their beliefs peacefully, they
are far more likely to explore other and more often than not dangerous alternatives.
Second, the right to religious freedom is not contingent on having a large number of
followers. Religious minorities – including those who profess no faith – should have
the same rights as religious majorities, and that is a fundamental belief. Sadly, the pages
of this report that is being released today are filled with accounts of minorities being
denied rights in countries like Burma, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, many others.
And finally, I want to emphasize the importance and urgency of the work that is being carried
out by Ambassador Saperstein and his office, including the addition of a new special advisor
on religious minorities. Among their initiatives is a groundbreaking effort to build a coalition
of likeminded nations to uphold the international standard of religious freedom for all.
In that connection, I urge the release of men and women detained or imprisoned anywhere
in the world for the peaceful expression and practice of their religious beliefs. This
includes Mr. Zhang Kai, a Chinese Christian human rights lawyer who was detained in late
August just prior to a scheduled meeting with Ambassador Saperstein, and whose present whereabouts
are unknown. In closing, I note that religious bigotry
is present to a degree in every continent and every country, and sadly, even including
our own. It may be expressed through anti-Semitism or prejudice against Muslims; through the
persecution of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and others; or it may come in the guise
of attacks against religion itself, as we saw so tragically in Oregon at the beginning
of this month. In response, we all have a responsibility
to affirm our faith in the principles of religious freedom that the world community has endorsed
so many times and that have helped to uplift America and define our country since the 17th
century, when Roger Williams issued his call for soul liberty, and when, some years later,
Seneca chief Red Jacket told a missionary delegation from Boston, “Brother, we do
not wish to destroy your religion. We only want to enjoy our own.” That’s the fundamental
principle of tolerance that guides us, and it is a value worth fighting for.
With that, I am pleased to yield the floor to Ambassador David Saperstein, who will give
you a little more detail about the report. Thank you all.