The Trouble with American Foreign Policy and Islam
Thomas Farr Monday, 13 June 2011
How important—to Muslims and to American national interests—is the emergence of religious freedom in the lands of Islam? Both history and contemporary social science suggest that it is quite important, for at least two reasons.
First, non-Muslim minorities, Muslim minority groups, and Muslim reformers are under siege in many Muslim-majority countries. The result is a humanitarian crisis of the first order: 70 percent of the world's population lives in nations where religious freedom is severely restricted, and in most of those nations Islam is the majority faith. The plight of Egyptian Copts, recently under severe attack from Islamist extremists and undefended by Egyptian police, is one example. The political upheaval in Egypt increases Christians' fear for their long-term security. Another example is the murderous assaults on Iraq's ancient Christian community, and its de facto forced emigration. In yet another example, the only Christian cabinet member in Pakistan—Shahbaz Bhatti—was recently gunned down in his car. Moreover, not only are Christian minorities at risk, but non-Christian minorities are also under increased pressure.
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