India was categorised as a “Tier 2 country” in last year’s listing. But the State Department notification, now issued, does not name it among countries of particular concern. Last year, the US religious commission noted that religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward, with religious minorities underContinue Reading

New Delhi: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s intervention led to Pakistan escaping sanctions for lack of religious freedom and India stopped from being listed on a Special Watch List, said US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Samuel Brownback. “There were several recommendations that the Secretary [Pomoeo] did not follow,Continue Reading

Washington, Dec. 2, 2018: Ultranationalism is the chief reason behind the growing number of countries ranked worse than before on guaranteeing citizens their religious freedom, according to Thomas Heine-Geldern, executive president of Aid to the Church in Need. One example was India’s “Hinduistic nationalist approach,” Heine-Geldern said, “which leads toContinue Reading

Washington: Declaring that religious freedom is “under threat,” President Donald Trump has vowed to repeal a rarely enforced IRS rule that says pastors who endorse candidates from the pulpit risk losing their tax-exempt status. “I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives ofContinue Reading

NEW HAVEN, CONN.: Religious freedom continues to enjoy strong backing from most Americans, a new survey says. “Majorities of Americans – regardless of party – have embraced religious freedom and have rightly rejected the false notion that it is something negative,” Supreme Knight Carl Anderson of the Knights of ColumbusContinue Reading