Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. - Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
The history of religious persecution did not begin with the Jewish bondage in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. Arguably, it began with Cain, who murdered his brother in jealousy of Abel’s more worthy sacrifice. It is as old as humanity, in other words, and runs through the centuries: through the 300 years of penal laws against Catholics in England and Ireland and the pogroms of Eastern Europe in the later 19th century, through the darkness of the 20th century.
