The Role of Religion

Religious persecution contrasts sharply with the positive role religion plays in communities worldwide. Membership in a religious group provides a sense of identity and creates communities for followers of many religions. Quite often, in the more religious societies, the people's culture is centered around their religious beliefs.

Some religious beliefs are complex and often hard for outsiders to grasp. Different religions all support and promote the well-being of all human beings in the world. The core teachings of the Holy books, the Scriptures, or other religious teachings, demonstrate how religious teachings support and promote peace and unity of all people in the world:

• Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself. (Judaism and Christianity, Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39.)
• For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule. (Buddhism, Dhammapada I5.)
• Peace is the highest value. (Taoism, Tao Te Ching, Chap.31.)
• All peoples shall love one another and live together in peace. (Iroquois, Book of Life.)
• Who will care and caress this land, this earth?... It is truth, justice, and compassion. (Maori, Traditional Maori song.)

Source: Religion and Human Rights. New York: The Project on Religion and Human Rights, 1994. pp. 70-71.

Although religion can provide a spiritual basis for human rights, it has often become the basis for denying individuals or a group these basic rights. After WWII, in which human rights of one religious group were violated to extreme, the nations of the world decided to create a Universal Declaration of Human Rights that included the right of freedom of religion.