Yesterday, March 8, 2019, Joe Carter of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) posted a brief article about the role the United Nations seeks to play with regard to religious liberty around the world. It is a worthwhile read. The article ends with this section entitled “Is the UN doing an adequate job of protecting religious freedom?”:
Many Christian groups have claimed that the UN often fails to take necessary actions to protect religious freedom. For example, Alliance Defending Freedom recently released a 48-page white paper criticizing the UN’s failure to address global religious persecution.
According to the paper, the UN has “failed to protect Christians and other religious minorities from being persecuted at the hands of the Islamic State. At the same time, its main human rights entity, the Human Rights Council (HRC), has resolved to prevent the expression of views that are critical of other religions, limiting people’s freedom to assert their beliefs and to evaluate truth claims.”
The paper also criticizes the Human Rights Council, the body empaneled to address violations of human rights, including religious liberty. As ADF notes, member nations of the Human Rights Council are supposed to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.” Yet thirteen of the 47 current members are on the 2017 World Watch List, the top 50 countries where Christians are most persecuted.
Check it out and let us know what you think about the U.N.’s role.
