An article at USA Today describes how "we are seeing a marked erosion of what America's Founding Fathers considered the 'first freedom': the liberty of religious conscience." Recent studies show that nearly a third of the globe lives with severe religious restriction, but even in America there are signs that our historic commitment to this freedom is wavering. And Middle Eastern uprisings against repressive governments have precipitated a treacherous new era for Christian minorities. Muslim-dominated countries tend to have high government restrictions and social pressures against religious freedom, while in the U.S. religious freedom takes a hit with an FBI-estimated 1,500 religious hate crimes annually, the majority of which are against Jews. Anti-Muslim sentiment is prevalent, while Christians also encounter both frivolous and real judicial infringements upon their rights to worship.
