Editing Religious persecution (section)

==Contemporary==
[[File:President Trump Meets with Survivors of Religious Persecution (48314955692).jpg|thumb|President [[Donald Trump]] meets with survivors of religious persecution from 17 countries in July 2019.]]
Although his book was written before the [[September 11 attacks]], John Coffey explicitly compares [[Islamophobia]] in the contemporary Western world to the English [[Whig (British political party)|Whig Party]]'s [[paranoia]] about the fictitious [[Popish Plot]].<ref>"Like the extremist Islamic clerics who today provide inspiration for terrorist campaigns, the [Catholic] priests could not be treated like men who only sought the spiritual nourishment of the flock." Coffey 2000: 38&39.</ref> [[Mehdi Ghezali]] and [[Murat Kurnaz]] were among the Muslims who were imprisoned in the [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]], but they were not found to have any connections to [[terrorism]], because they had previously traveled to [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]] to pursue their religious interests.

The United States submits an annual report on religious freedom and persecution to the Congress. The report contains data which the United States collects from U.S. embassies around the world in collaboration with the [[Office of International Religious Freedom]] and other relevant U.S. government and non-governmental institutions. The data is available to the public.<ref name="Committee">{{cite book|last=US Congress|first=House committee on foreign affairs|title=Religious Persecution: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on International security, International organizations and Human Rights|year=1994|publisher=U.S. Government printing office|isbn=0-16-044525-6|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2018-report-on-international-religious-freedom/}}</ref> The 2018 study details, country by country, the violations of religious freedom taking place in approximately 75% of the 195 countries in the world. Between 2007 and 2017, the PEW organization<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewforum.org/2019/07/15/a-closer-look-at-how-religious-restrictions-have-risen-around-the-world/|title=How Religious Restrictions Have Risen Around the World|date=15 July 2019}}</ref> found that "Christians experienced harassment by governments or social groups in the largest number of countries"—144 countries—but that it is almost equal to the number of countries (142) in which Muslims experience harassment.<ref name="auto3"/> PEW has published a caution concerning the interpretation of these numbers: "The Center's recent report&nbsp;... does not attempt to estimate the number of victims in each country... it does not speak to the intensity of harassment..."<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/02/21/quotes-from-experts-on-the-future-of-democracy/|title=Quotes from experts on the future of democracy|date=21 February 2020}}</ref>

No religious group is free from [[harassment]] in the [[Contemporary history|contemporary world]]. Klaus Wetzel, an expert on religious persecution for the German [[Bundestag]], the [[House of Lords]], the [[US House of Representatives]], the [[European Parliament]], and the International Institute for Religious Freedom, explains that "In around a quarter of all countries in the world, the restrictions imposed by governments, or hostilities towards one or more religious groups, are ''high'' or ''very high''. Some of the most populous countries in the world belong to this group, such as China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan. Therefore, around three quarters of the world's population live in them."<ref name="auto">{{ cite web | title= Christenverfolgung auf einen Blick | language= de | work = Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte | trans-work = International Society for Human rights | url= https://www.igfm.de/christenverfolgung-auf-einen-blick/ }}</ref>

At the symposium on law and religion in 2014, Michelle Mack said: "Despite what appears to be a near-universal expression of commitment to religious human rights, the frequency-and severity-of religious persecution worldwide is staggering. Although it is impossible to determine with certainty the exact numbers of people persecuted for their faith or religious affiliation, it is unquestioned that "violations of freedom of religion and belief, including acts of severe persecution, occur with fearful frequency."<ref name="Mack">{{cite journal|last=Mack|first=Michelle L.|title=Religious Human Rights and the International Human Rights Community: Finding Common Ground – Without Compromise|journal=Notre Dame Journal of Ethics, Law & Public Policy|volume=13|issue=2|date=February 2014|access-date=26 May 2020|url=https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1372&context=ndjlepp}}</ref>{{rp|462, note 24}} She quotes Irwin Colter, human rights advocate and author as saying "[F]reedom of religion remains the most persistently violated human right in the annals of the species."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cotler|first=Irwin|date=1999| title= Jewish NGOs, human rights, and public advocacy: A comparative inquiry|journal=Jewish Political Studies Review|volume=11|issue=3/4|pages=61–95|jstor=25834458 |issn=0792-335X}}</ref>
 
Despite the ubiquitous nature of religious persecution, the traditional [[human rights]] community typically chooses to emphasize "more tangible encroachments on human dignity," such as violations which are based on [[Race (human categorization)|race]], [[gender]], and [[Social class|class]] by using national, ethnic, and linguistic groupings rather than religious groupings.<ref name="Durham">{{cite book|last=Durham|first=W. Cole Jr.|title=Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Legal Perspectives|editor1-last=Van der Vyver|editor1-first=Johan David |editor2-last=Witte|editor2-first=John Jr.|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|location=Boston|volume=2|year=1996|chapter=Perspectives on Religious Liberty: a comparative framework|isbn=90-411-0177-2}}</ref>