Orrin Hatch: “I rise today to speak about our Nation's first freedom--religious liberty. Last week a court in Sudan sentenced a woman…”

“I rise today to speak about our Nation's first freedom--religious liberty. Last week a court in Sudan sentenced a woman to death for converting from Islam to Christianity and gave her just days to recant. Sadly, this sort of tragic oppression is common across the globe. The Pew Research Center says that three-quarters of the world's people live where restrictions on religion are high or very high and that religious hostilities have been increasing for years. In the last 10 years the number of countries on the Commission on International Religious Freedom's watch list has grown by 150 percent. Simply put, religious freedom is increasingly in peril around the globe. When compared to the rest of the world, some might think that religious liberty in America is alive and well. But, in truth, basic religious freedom is under attack here at home. Professor Thomas Berg writes that ``establishing freedom of religion as both constitutional principle and social reality is among America's greatest contributions to the world.'' But we have to ask ourselves whether meaningful religious liberty is still such a reality in American society and whether our Nation is still making that essential contribution to a world that needs it now more than ever. Hundreds of books, studies, papers, articles, and court decisions have explored various aspects, nuances, and implications of religious freedom. In the coming days and weeks, I will explore some of these issues in greater detail.…”