Sam Brownback: “I rise to discuss something that I consider a major cornerstone to any free society--religious freedom. I recently…”

“I rise to discuss something that I consider a major cornerstone to any free society--religious freedom. I recently offered an amendment during the markup that would condition the money going to the Coalition Provisional Authority, CPA, by ensuring the preservation of "full rights to religious freedom for all individuals, including a prohibition on laws which would criminalize blasphemy and apostasy." The first part of that phrase, "full rights to religious freedom for all individuals," is extremely important given the recent historical record on constitutions that established Islam as the official religion of the state. Pakistan is an Islamic Republic in which the constitution extends some rights to groups to engage in their religious practices. However, the constitution does not allow for the freedom of conscience of individual believers, either within different sects of Islam or for those wishing to convert. Therefore, the biggest danger may be to those who do not subscribe to the prevailing interpretation of Islam. With the Afghan constitution just now coming to light, the international community and the Afghan people are slowly becoming aware that their constitution will not preserve their individual right to believe what they wish.”