Washington D.C., Jun 16, 2016 / 16:00 pm
Despite secularization in some countries, "the world is becoming more religious" and the United States needs to factor this into its foreign policy, one religious freedom expert said Thursday.
"The reality, whether someone likes it or doesn't like it, is that the world is becoming more religious, not less religious," Dr. Robert George, former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, told CNA in a June 16 interview on Thursday.
This refutes "secularization theory," the sociological belief that "as modernization moves forward, religion will retreat, as people learn more about science they become less interested in religion," George explained.
George testified Thursday on the global state of religious freedom before the House Subcommittee on Global Human Rights. He was joined by Rabbi David Saperstein, U.S. Ambassador at-Large for International Religious Freedom, and Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and former vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.