Religious freedom

Religious Freedom

Religious freedom is one of the human rights that every society should have. In 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed, where article 18 mentions it as fundamental.

Everyone has rights to freedom of religion, thought, and conscience. It includes freedom to change their belief or religion, and to freely manifest their religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance, alone or as a community.

Being part of fundamental human rights makes religious freedom a necessity. This has reached the point that countries that promote free worship are superior in their treatment of their inhabitants.

Promoting the acceptance of religion is something that the state should carry out. This fact ensures that there is an entity that regulates and defends minorities against those who want to attack them.

What does freedom of religion include?

Several characteristics must be present to speak of freedom of religion. The first of these is the freedom to choose a religion and change one’s beliefs whenever one wishes.

Following this, each individual is free to join a community that professes their religion for worship. These communities may be large churches or even minority groups.

Also, there is the fact of being able to worship it publicly and privately. This type of worship may include proselytizing as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others.

Finally, freedom of religion includes the protection of religious minorities by the state. This is because larger religious communities may attack newly established or minor religions.

Censorship of religious freedom in the world

To date, religious freedom remains a right that is not fully respected. Countries such as North Korea, China, Iraq, and Syria persecute those who do not conform to the religious requirements of the place.

On the other hand, religion creates a kind of social martyrdom in other parts of the world. People who practice faiths that most citizens follow are frowned upon and isolated.

Finally, in many other countries, religion is tolerated, but the practice must not affect or interfere with higher affairs. Furthermore, it should be limited to private practice by prohibiting the mention of these beliefs in public.

Religious freedom as a symbol of a developed country

Although a state should remain secular when legislating, this does not mean that it should attack religious leaders. A country that accepts freedom of worship can work with these organizations for the good of society.

Yet, the state must learn not to be bound by religious fanaticism. If this is the case, adverse situations may arise, such as the false accusations of “blasphemy” in less developed countries.

In these accusations, innocent people are judged for not following a country’s religious standards. This promotes low tolerance of the population, inciting violence against smaller cults.

To conclude, a developed country will know how to promote freedom and respect despite differences in beliefs. For this, it can use laws or resort to education to promote diversity.