Baku Conference on the Role of Religion and Belief in a Democratic Society

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

The United States participated in last week's Conference in Baku on the Role of Religion and Belief in a Democratic Society: Searching for Ways to Combat Terrorism and Extremism, along with a number of Central Asian countries, many religious groups, and, though sadly, only a handful of representatives of Western European countries.

We would like to compliment Azerbaijan and ODIHR for putting on this conference. We welcome the important discussion on the balance between religious freedom and state security that took place there.

This is an issue that affects all of us, and is of deep concern to the United States as we, ourselves, grapple with this balance in our own country.

The meeting, we believe, was also an excellent opportunity to reconfirm that OSCE participating States firmly reject identification of terrorism with any nationality or religion, and that national security measures should not include unduly aggressive measures to stamp out religious-based movements deemed hostile to government interests.

In closing, my government would like to encourage the holding of additional meetings that bring together government leaders, NGOs, and inter-faith groups to discuss these important issues.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Also see:
--Role of Religion in a Modern Democratic Society -- Responding to Security Threats Without Infringing on Fundamental Rights.
--Role of Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue in Fighting Terrorism, Extremism and Intolerance and Resolving Conflicts.
--Role of Education in Promoting Tolerance and Combating the Growth of Religious Extremism.