Fighting Religious Intolerance Around the World
As news broke about the U.S. drone strike that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Kabul, media outlets reported on every facet of the operation from its detailed planning to its surgical precision. But most experts overlooked a vital issue: the religious intolerance and extremism that fueled al-Zawahri.
Here is the sad fact: Although the U.S. struck a blow against religious extremism by killing al-Zawahri, fanaticism still festers in many parts of the world. With sad and increasing frequency, misguided radicalized individuals have attacked innocent bystanders, worshipers, and faith-based institutions in the name of religion. Political leaders quickly, and correctly, label these attacks as terrorism. But more must be done. Political, societal, and religious leaders must make clear that there is no place for religious extremism in today's world.
The effort to combat religious extremism must be global. Religious intolerance is not limited to any single country, region, or faith. In the U.S., for example, antisemitic attacks reached a record high in 2021. Nobody can forget the 11 Jews who were slain in a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. The terrorist responsible for this attack made clear he "wanted all Jews to die." Muslims, too, face rising threats of violent attacks in the U.S. and elsewhere. In the last two years, Muslims and their houses of worship have been attacked in Washington State, Michigan, and Georgia. In Germany, between 2020 and 2021, there were more than 140 attacks on mosques and Muslims.
Indeed, the largest refugee crisis in the world occurred in Myanmar where the Rohingya, a Muslim minority, have suffered repeated violence, discrimination, and persecution. Myanmar's security forces systematically attacked the Rohingya for many years causing four separate exoduses of Rohingya to Bangladesh since 1978. The U.S. and the United Nations have declared Myanmar's actions to be genocide. Nearly a million Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar region. Bangladesh's welcoming response to the influx of refugees serves as a shining example of positive and effective leadership in the face of an ever-growing humanitarian crisis. From the beginning, Bangladesh has provided Rohingya refugees with food, education, housing, and medicine. It has been a beacon of tolerance and compassion in the face of the opposite of both.
The international community must come together to confront religious intolerance in Myanmar and elsewhere in the world. Sanctions against the leaders of Myanmar's military, who have perpetrated much of the violence against the Rohingya, are important but not sufficient. Through a combination of concrete actions and free and open discourse, leaders in religion, academia, sports, and politics must demonstrate that people who differ from them – ethnically, racially, or religiously – should not be treated with less respect than anyone else. International, nongovernmental groups increasingly are making this case persuasively. The Muslim World League (MWL) has provided both aid and moral leadership. The 2019 Charter of Makkah, which was conceived and shepherded by MWL, laid out a set of principles supporting religious and cultural diversity while condemning extremism. The adoption of the declaration represented the first time in history that Islamic scholars from different sects reached consensus on such a crucial set of contemporary issues.
The Makkah Declaration, as the Charter is also known, not only laid out important principles but also conceived practical programs and partnerships inside and outside the Islamic world. These programs include youth engagement and women's empowerment. This May, a conference of Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu leaders met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to focus on the issue of religious extremism. At the close of the conference, attendees issued a "Declaration on the Common Human Values," which "call(s) on religious institutions around the world to advance values that highlight forgiveness and religious tolerance" and reject the extremism that incites hatred and create(s) crises and fuel conflicts."
Much work remains to be done in the U.S., Myanmar and elsewhere in the world. The Makkah Declaration and the Declaration of Common human values provide a bright, guiding light. The brutal attack in Afghanistan reminds us that the world should follow it.
Gregory Tosi, a former congressional aide, is an attorney practicing international trade law in developing countries.
