"Religious freedom is an authentic weapon of peace."That's one of the momentous statements from Pope Benedict XVI's speech on December 16th, World Peace Day. However, it expresses a conviction that is far afield from the ruthlessness of many Muslim, Communist and Hindu leaders who regularly use religious persecution as a political weapon.
The Pope's message was translated into many languages (including Arabic, Russian and Hindi) and delivered to leaders throughout the world by Vatican ambassadors.
The speech also carried the demonstrable fact that most of the victims of religious persecution in the world are Christians. "At present, Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith," and he specifically mentioned the violent horrors endured by Christian communities in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and "especially in the Holy Land."
In a later press conference, Msgr. Anthony Frontiero, an official at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said that of all the people "who are discriminated against, hurt, killed or persecuted for religious reasons, 75% worldwide are Christian." Frontiero also pointed out that the death toll resulting from this persecution of Christian believers is 150,000 every year.
And it isn't paranoia. Reports the Toronto Star -- "Virtually every human rights group and Western government agency that monitors the plight of Christians worldwide arrives at more or less the same conclusion: Between 200 million and 230 million of them face daily threats of murder, beating, imprisonment and torture, and a further 350 to 400 million encounter discrimination in areas such as jobs and housing."
The pope also warned against "more sophisticated forms of hostility to religion" which, in Western countries, is often expressed by a denial of its Christian roots and the rejection of religious symbols, "which reflect the identity and the culture of the majority of citizens." Such hostility is "inconsistent with a serene and balanced vision of pluralism and the secularity of institutions," he said.
Civil society must acknowledge and make room for the right of believers to have their voice heard in the public realm, Pope Benedict argued. "To eclipse the public role of religion is to create a society which is unjust, inasmuch as it fails to take account of the true nature of the human person; it is to stifle the growth of the authentic and lasting peace of the whole human family."
Because religion is not "a creation of the state, it cannot be manipulated by the state," rather, he said, the state has a duty to acknowledge and respect religion.
The pope ended his message with a plea to Western countries to end their "hostility and prejudice against Christians" and he urged Europe to become reconciled with its Christian roots, which, he said, are indispensable for promoting justice, harmony and peace.
Read more of this weighty matter in Carol Glatz' article for the Catholic News Service.
