What surprised you most about the results of this study? We did another one eight years ago, and with this new study, you see comparatively little improvement and even deterioration in some areas. But there is improvement in Latin America and Eastern Europe. Also, you will find relatively religiously free countries everywhere in the world. Places like Botswana or Senegal have higher scores on the survey than France or Greece.
How does a country’s religious background affect its religious freedom? Christian-background countries in general score high. Many of Muslim background score low. Catholic-background countries score more or less the same as Protestant-background countries. That would not have been the case 30 years ago. The Orthodox tend to score lower. Some of this is Communist holdover. But the Orthodox traditionally have had a close relationship with the state. So the idea of new religious groups operating in their territory is still very difficult.
You discovered an interesting correlation when you compared religious freedom to economic freedom. If you take the worst 30 countries in terms of economic freedom, every one scored low with religious freedom. The top 30 countries all scored high. Why is that? We see two connections. First, wealth could help religious freedom. But we also believe that religious freedom helps general health, well-being, and wealth broadly understood. To the degree that people are not free to organize and manage their lives, you cut down on the possibility of independent economic activity. People are simply used to not doing things unless they’re told to do them.
How could this connection help expand religious freedom? Let’s take Vietnam, because the U.S. government and various Christian groups have been in discussion with them. You can tell their leaders that we have good reason to think that their control on religion has a deleterious economic effect on the country.
Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
The Hudson Institute‘s page on Paul Marshall links to many of his online articles.
The institute’s Center for Religious Freedom released its preliminary findings on religious rights in July. The book is scheduled to be released September 28.
Previous news interviews include:
Q&A: Richard Land | The president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission talks about his new book, The Divided States of America? (July 30, 2007)
Q&A: Rep. Heath Shuler | Shuler, a Democratic Congressman from North Carolina who ran as a social conservative, defeated a Republican incumbent in 2006. (June 26, 2007)
Q&A: Tony Hall | Hall, a former Democratic congressman, directs the faith component of a new Middle East peace initiative. (May 15, 2007)
The Rebirth of Venus | Charlene Cothran, editor of a magazine for African-American gays and lesbians, on how she renounced homosexuality and came to Christ. (March 23, 2007)
Q&A: Albert Mohler | On recovery from life-threatening pulmonary emboli and lessons learned. (March 9, 2007)
Q&A: Hugh Hewitt | Conservative blogger, political analyst, and radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Romney’s bid for the White House. (February 27, 2007)
