Onlookers gather around the site of a bomb blast at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria, on Christmas Day in 2011. A radical Muslim sect, Boko Haram, claimed responsibility for the attack and for another bombing near a church in Jos, Nigeria. (Associated Press)
Jessica Chasmar, The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has revealed that 10 of the 15 “worst violators of religious freedom” in the world are Muslim nations.
The federal advisory body, created by the International Religious Freedom Act, monitors religious freedom abuses worldwide, Catholic Online reports.
The 15 most intolerant countries listed are Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.
All of these nations severely restrict independent religious activity and harass people for minority religious activity, classifying these countries as Tier 1 “countries of particular concern” in the report.
Nigeria, for example, made the list for “continuing religious violence between Muslims and Christians compounded by the government’s toleration of the sectarian attacks”
