Day: December 21, 2009

70 Percent of Humanity Lives in Countries with High Religious Restrictions – 70 Percent of the Worst Countries are OIC Nations

Communist and OIC nations are majority of those nations denying human religious freedom in the world

Pew Global Poll: “nearly 70 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion people live in countries with high restrictions on religion, the brunt of which often falls on religious minorities.”

— To see how each country scored on each question, see the Results by Country.

— Download the full Results by Country (48-page PDF)

— Download the full report PDF (72 pages, 8MB)

— Download the full Summary of Results (17-page PDF)

Pew Global Poll Results – Worst Nations for Religious Freedom

Pew Poll  – Very High
Top 5% of scores
Saudi Arabia – OIC Nation
Iran – OIC Nation
Uzbekistan – OIC Nation
China – Communist
Egypt – OIC Nation
Burma (Myanmar)
Maldives – OIC Nation
Eritrea
Malaysia – OIC Nation
Brunei – OIC Nation

Pew Poll – High
Next 15% of scores
Indonesia – OIC Nation
Mauritania – OIC Nation
Pakistan – OIC Nation
Turkey – OIC Nation
Vietnam – Communist Nation
Algeria – OIC Nation
Belarus
Russia
Turkmenistan – OIC Nation
Libya – OIC Nation
Sudan – OIC Nation
Tajikistan – OIC Nation
Jordan – OIC Nation
Afghanistan – OIC Nation
Morocco – OIC Nation
Laos – Communist
Syria – OIC Nation
India
Tunisia – OIC Nation
Azerbaijan – OIC Nation
Kuwait – OIC Nation
Kazakhstan – OIC Nation
Yemen – OIC Nation
Iraq – OIC Nation
Western Sahara
Bulgaria
Singapore
Moldova
Greece
Israel
Cuba – Communist Nation
Oman – OIC Nation
Somalia* – OIC Nation

Out of 43 Nations Ranked “Very High” and “High” in Terms of Deny Religious Freedom – 30 were OIC nations — 70 percent of the Very High and High Nations Ranked is denying religious freedom – being OIC nations

Saudi Arabia – OIC Nation
Iran – OIC Nation
Uzbekistan – OIC Nation
Egypt – OIC Nation
Maldives – OIC Nation
Malaysia – OIC Nation
Brunei – OIC Nation
Indonesia – OIC Nation
Mauritania – OIC Nation
Pakistan – OIC Nation
Turkey – OIC Nation
Algeria – OIC Nation
Turkmenistan – OIC Nation
Libya – OIC Nation
Sudan – OIC Nation
Tajikistan – OIC Nation
Jordan – OIC Nation
Afghanistan – OIC Nation
Morocco – OIC Nation
Laos – Communist
Syria – OIC Nation
Tunisia – OIC Nation
Azerbaijan – OIC Nation
Kuwait – OIC Nation
Kazakhstan – OIC Nation
Yemen – OIC Nation
Iraq – OIC Nation
Oman – OIC Nation
Somalia* – OIC Nation

Where Our Universal Human Rights Apply...
Where Our Universal Human Rights Apply...

See also:

— World Gender Gap Worst in Islamic Nations — Survey Shows Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Egypt, Turkey at Bottom of List
— U.S. State Dept Religious Freedom Report Critical of OIC Efforts to Restrict Freedom

Iran: Many Thousands Reportedly Challenge Iranian Regime, Violence After Funeral

— Hundreds of thousands challenge Iranian regime
— “Mourners chant anti-government slogans at funeral of dissident cleric Ayatollah Montazeri.”
— Fresh violence reported in Iran — “after the funeral of dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, attended by vast crowds of mourners”
— Iranian cleric’s funeral draws protesters

Jury finds White guilty on 4 counts: Neo-Nazi William A. White found guilty on charges of making threats, but acquitted on 3 other counts

Jury finds White guilty on 4 counts: Neo-Nazi found guilty on charges of making threats, but acquitted on 3 other counts
— Roanoke Times Reports:
— “Done in by his own words, Internet hatemonger William A. White was convicted Friday of threatening people from Virginia Beach to Canada.”
— “The verdict, however, was not a total repudiation of White’s assertion that the First Amendment should protect his incendiary speech. Of seven counts against White, the federal jury acquitted him of three.”
— “White, who will be sentenced later, could face up to 35 years in prison.”
— “The self-proclaimed leader of a Roanoke-based neo-Nazi group, White was returned to the city jail late Friday afternoon as a snowstorm swirled around the downtown courthouse where, for the past week and a half, the jury heard testimony about how he used the Internet and other means to terrorize total strangers with whom he disagreed.”
— “However, White was found not guilty of making threats against Leonard Pitts, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Miami Herald, and Charles Tyson, the former mayor of South Harrison township in New Jersey.”
— “In the case of Pitts, White told the columnist that he looked forward to the day when whites would rise up again and slaughter and enslave blacks. He also told an editor at the Miami Herald that he wouldn’t shed a tear if ‘some looney’ took the information from his Web site and killed Pitts.”

Neo-Nazi William A. White (Roanoke Times)
Neo-Nazi William A. White (Roanoke Times)

OIC Losing Support in United Nations

CNS reports:
“The latest in a string of religious defamation resolutions considered by the General Assembly and human rights bodies over the past decade saw more countries than ever oppose the measure.”
“The resolution passed by 80 votes to 61 against, with 42 countries abstaining. The result is the worst ever for the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member states and their allies, many of them not free democracies. It marks a continuing decline since 2007, when in the wake of the Mohammed newspaper cartoon furor a similar resolution passed by a vote of 108-51, with 25 abstentions.”
“Not only has the number of countries opposing the move climbed (see graph), but several member states in the developing world have moved from supporting the resolutions to abstaining.”

Graph Showing Decling Support for OIC's Defamation of Religion Resolutions within United Nations (CNSNews.com)
Graph Showing Decling Support for OIC's Defamation of Religion Resolutions within United Nations (CNSNews.com)

“The drive to have defamation of religion outlawed has triggered a growing counter-campaign by freedom of expression groups, humanist organizations, and advocates for the rights of Christians and other non-Muslim minorities in the Islamic world, including coverts from Islam who are considered ‘apostates.’ ”
“Although the resolutions are non-binding, they are taking place in conjunction with a separate OIC-led push to have an existing, legally-binding anti-racism treaty, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), amended to cover speech deemed as religiously defamatory.”
“In a letter written to member states ahead of the vote, Angela Wu, international law director of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty – a leading opponent of the resolutions – argued that the measures ‘provide international support for domestic blasphemy laws that have been used by oppressive regimes to silence, rather than protect, vulnerable minorities and dissenters.’ ”
“Wu contested the very concept of religious defamation, saying the human rights law systems is meant to protect individuals, not ideas or religions.”

UK: Columnist “Stop Tiptoeing” Around 17,000 “Honor Crimes” Per Year

UK’s Poorna Shetty: “Stop tiptoeing around ‘honour’ killings”
— Poorna Shetty: “‘Honour’ killings, which tend to feature in Middle Eastern, Turkish and south-east Asian communities, derive their motivation from the idea of shame and honour within conservative and religious frameworks. The key problems are that because it’s perceived as a ‘cultural issue’ and communities are reluctant to come forward, progress has been slow.”
— Quoting ICAHK posting, Poorna Shetty states: “The Association of Chief Police Officers estimate that 17,000 ‘honour’ crimes are committed each year.”

Indonesia: Women Urgently Finding New Clothes to Meet Sharia Standards to Avoid Arrest

Indonesia’s Jakarta Globe: “Dressing to Impress Aceh’s Shariah Police”
— Jakarta Globe: “Women are revamping their wardrobes in West Aceh to conform to the new Shariah regulation.”
— ” ‘I have to replace my clothes with skirts and Muslim outfits [that are long-sleeved and loose],’ 20-year-old Rahma said last Tuesday. ‘I don’t want to be arrested by the Wilayatul Hisbah [Shariah police] when they really implement the new law.’ ”
— But another woman tells Jakarta Globe: “I’m not afraid of the Shariah police. I believe that a person should not be judged by what they wear. It is the heart that matters, not a piece of cloth.”

Women are revamping their wardrobes in West Aceh to conform to the new Shariah regulation. (Photo: Jakarta Globe)
Women are revamping their wardrobes in West Aceh to conform to the new Shariah regulation. (Photo: Jakarta Globe)

Other reports on Indonesia:

World AIDS Day: Hizb ut-Tahrir Calls for Stonings, Whippings, Islamic Caliphate

Indonesia: 1500 Sharia Police Harrass Men, Women in Aceh

Indonesian Extremists Bully Villagers into Revoking Church Permit

Indonesia: Women Banned from Wearing Jeans and Pants — Sharia Police Plan Raids and Patrols

Indonesia: Sharia Bill Calling for Stoning, Now Officially Law in Aceh

Asia: Shariah Asia Spread Appeases Islamists, Risks Rights

Indonesia: Muslim cleric cleared of sex abuse over 12 year old child bride

Indonesia: Two Indonesian Churches Receive Bomb Threats

Indonesia: Home-Based Christian Worship Shut Down by Extremists

Indonesia’s Jakarta Post: “Questioning stoning to death as a punishment for adultery”

Indonesia: Church protests as law on stoning for adultery approved

Indonesia’s Aceh passes law on stoning to death — death for adulterers, steep prison for homosexuality

Indonesia: Students demand harsher sharia law implementation

Indonesia — Christians Call for Rejection of Sharia-Inspired Bills

Indonesia: Christian congregation threatened with sticks, protests – every Sunday – for praying

Indonesia: West Java, Protestant church demolished by local government

Indonesia: Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir — terrorism won’t end until authorities respect the supremacy of Islamic law