Contact: Kevin Paquette, Institute on Religion and Public Policy, 202-835-8760, paquette@religionandpolicy.org

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 /Standard Newswire/ -- In recognition of National Religious Freedom Day, Institute on Religion and Public Policy President Joseph K. Grieboski released the following statement:

"Today is the fifteenth annual celebration of Religious Freedom Day in the United States, commemorating the passage of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom in 1786. This seminal piece of legislation helped to lay the legal groundwork for the protection of religious freedom in the United States. The Virginia Statute was perhaps the single most important piece of legislation prior to the establishment of the Bill of Rights enshrining the concept of religious freedom in the United States.

We at the Institute would like you to keep in mind the following examples of religious persecution that continue to occur throughout the world as you celebrate your freedom today:

• Eritrea routinely detains, tortures, and imprisons any religious group not approved by the state;
  
  
• Vietnamese Khmer Buddhists, Christians, Cao Dai, and Hoa Hao all face periodic harassment and persecution at the hands of state authorities;
  
  
• Religious leaders in Uzbekistan, Eritrea, Vietnam, Turkmenistan, Turkey; Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, China, Turkmenistan and Armenia, and  many others around the globe, have been either imprisoned or fined for their religious activities;
  
  
• Routinely Islamaphobic political rhetoric, police actions, and discriminatory laws have been passed and proposed through out western Europe in countries like the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the UK;
  
  
• Religious rioting and small scale conflict periodically simmers throughout the world in places such as Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, and India;
  
  
• Open warfare along religious lines occurs in places such as Sri Lanka, Iraq, the Philippines, and Thailand;
  
  
• Regimes such as those in North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Burma oppress any form of religion that challenges the worldview of the state; 
  
  
• Houses of worship, such as churches and mosques, and other religious institutions were vandalized or attacked in the Ukraine, Mozambique, Serbia, Iraq and Turkey."

It is my sincere hope that Americans of every background will take a moment to reflect on the importance of religious freedom that we so often take for granted. Further, I call on all Americans to provide our support and, if applicable, our prayers to those who continue to be oppressed for their religious beliefs under dictatorial and oppressive regimes across the globe.