In view of the ongoing severe abuses of religious freedom and based on the Iraqi government's toleration of these abuses as described in this report, particularly abuses against all of Iraq's most vulnerable and smallest religious minorities, the Commission recommends that Iraq should be designated a "country of particular concern" (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). Although there has been a substantial reduction in violence in Iraq since the Commission reported last in May 2007, there has been continued targeted violence, as well as threats and intimidation against...

The first page of the most recent National Security Strategy (NSS) advises that "to succeed, we must face the world as it is." Increasingly, the foreign policy community has recognized that the world is often and powerfully shaped by religion. Many U.S government initiatives have acknowledged that effective global engagement requires improved understanding of religious dynamics. A 600-page Religious Engagement Report of the Interagency Working Group on Religion and Global Affairs has inventoried embassy engagement of religious communities abroad, and the White House's Office of Faith-based...

The major findings of this report are that the content of Pakistani public school textbooks related to non-Islamic faiths and non-Muslims continue to teach bias, distrust, and inferiority. Moreover, the textbooks portray non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan as sympathetic towards its perceived enemies: Pakistani Christians as Westerners or equal to British colonial oppressors, and Pakistani Hindus as Indians, the arch enemy of Pakistan. These perceptions predispose students early on that the non-Muslim population of Pakistan are outsiders and unpatriotic. These grossly generalized and...