In photos: Religious freedom around the world
by ShareAmerica – October 24, 2019
The United States will always fight for religious freedom across the globe. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo notes that more than 80 percent of people live where religious freedom is suppressed or denied entirely.
“Religious freedom is a foundational American value,” Pompeo said at the 2019 Ministerial To Advance Religious Freedom. “It is a universal and unalienable right that should be afforded to all, not just a privileged few.”
These photos feature places of worship and people practicing their faiths the world over.
A Filipino Muslim woman enters a mosque to pray during the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in suburban Paranaque, south of Manila, Philippines on Monday, Aug. 1, 2011. During Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A Sikh devotee lights candles and lamps at the Golden Temple, Sikh's holiest shrine, illuminated on the occasion of the birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Ram Das in Amritsar, India, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Ram Das was the fourth of the ten gurus of Sikhism. (AP Photo/Sanjeev Syal)
Indian Hindu devotees perform rituals in the the river Brahmaputra during the Chhath Puja festival in Gauhati, India, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017. During Chhath, an ancient Hindu festival, rituals are performed to thank the Sun god for sustaining life on earth. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
*** EXCLUSIVE *** TIGRAY, ETHIOPIA - UNDATED: A holy man stand amongst the cliffs, taken in Tigray, North East Ethiopia. Deep in North East Ethiopia are unique churches carved directly into the rocks and caves of the dry terrain. From skyscrapers to steeples, for centuries the Western world has built their structures from the ground up, using man made or imported materials. However churches in Northern Ethiopia redefined traditional architecture, and were built from the roof down. Kenyan born photographer, Neil Thomas, travelled to the ancient region of Tigray to document the churches and meet the local people. PHOTOGRAPH BY Neil Thomas / Barcroft Images London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com - New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com - New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com www.barcroftmedia.com (Photo credit should read Neil Thomas / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
Buddhist monks and devotees from Thailand participate in a procession to mark Buddha Purnima at Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya, India, Friday, May 24, 2013. The festival marks Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death. (AP Photo/Manish Bandari)
An Egyptian Coptic woman attends the Christmas Eve mass at the Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Egypt's futur administrative capital, 45 kms east of Cairo, on January 6, 2018. Coptic Orthodox Christians packed the newly built Nativity of Christ Cathedral for a Christmas Eve mass after a bloody year for the minority singled out by jihadists for attacks. / AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)
Close-Up of the Baha'i Lotus Temple in New Delhi - Image
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man prays along the Mediterranean Sea in the Israeli city of Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, during the ritual of Tashlich on September 21, 2015. Tashlich is a ritual during which believers cast their sins into the water and the fish, and it is performed before the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, the most important day in the Jewish calendar, which this year falls on September 22. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
