Monday, August 27, 2012

For God or for US?

The new Ambassador needs to introduce the right thought process

As he faces the heat of ‘dis’approval ratings as President, commendable things also get done under Obama’s administration. A case in point was the nominating of the Ambassador-at-Large for the International Religious Freedom (IRF) of the US State Department. Though it created little more than a flutter in the media fraternity, its importance is hard to overstate.

A survey done by Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life in coordination with United Nations, US State Department and Human Rights Watch has revealed that around one-third of the countries in the world have high or very high restrictions on religious freedom. Over 70% of the world population has restrictions in terms of freely practicing their religion, imposed either by governments or individuals or organizations.