Speaking to a group of about 20 people on Monday night in 1 Rockefeller, Pedro Moreno, International Coordinator for Programs on Religious Freedom for the Rutherford Institute, detailed religious rights abuses around the world.
The lecture, titled "Religious Freedom and International Human Rights," detailed the atrocious and widespread abuses in Sudan and China, in addition to citing the other, more developed nations such as the United States and Japan, where few expect such violations.
In Sudan, the Muslim-dominated north now controls much of the Christian south, where they have tortured and enslaved many Christians, Moreno said.
The government of the People's Republic of China continues to persecute Muslims, Christians and Buddhists throughout the country, despite having laws guaranteeing religious freedom, he said.
The most obvious abuses in China occur in Tibet, where the Chinese-imposed government has attempted to alter and destroy the religious traditions of Tibetan Buddhists by destroying monasteries and exiling religious leaders.
A law guaranteeing religious freedom does not always translate into actual freedom of religion, Moreno said.
In many countries with laws requiring citizens to obey certain faiths due to the lack of separation of church and state, such as Japan, Russia and India, citizens are persecuted for observing other religions.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the law dictates that all citizens must be Muslim, under threat of punishment.
The United States did not escape Moreno's criticism. There is a trend in the United States and Europe to move religion out of the public sphere by forbidding the reading of the bible and prayer in public schools, Moreno said.
All is not lost in the battle for religious freedom, Moreno said. In particular, Latin America has made notable progress in protecting religious freedoms, Moreno said.
Just recently, Chile nearly passed legislation which would have made all churches equal under the law, whereas currently, the law provides special provisions for Catholic organizations.
Moreno, a Bolivian national and lawyer by trade, represents the Rutherford Institute, an organization devoted to educating and assisting people in the fight for religious freedom.
Moreno's speech was sponsored by the Tucker Foundation.
