Category: Religion

Support for Immigration from Nicholas Eberstadt and George Will

Nicholas Eberstadt , the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at Washington, D.C.;’s American Enterprise Institute (AEI), has authored a penetrating 23-page article about the upcoming new era of history he calls “the age of depopulation.”[1]

Eberstadt “researches and writes extensively on demographics and economic development generally, and more specifically on international security in the Korean peninsula and Asia. Domestically, he focuses on poverty and social well-being.” The AEI is a  “public policy think tank dedicated to defending human dignity, expanding human potential, and building a freer and safer world [and advancing] ideas rooted in our belief in democracy, free enterprise, American strength and global leadership, solidarity with those at the periphery of our society, and a pluralistic, entrepreneurial culture.”[2]

George Will’s Endorsement of Eberstadt’s Article

George Will, the noted columnist for the Washington Post, has endorsed the importance of the Eberstadt article, in a two-page column that distills at least some of Eberstadt’s important points.[3]

Here are the key points of that distillation.

“Earth’s population is going to decline. A lot. This will create social hazards that will challenge political ingenuity. Still, it will be, primarily, a protracted reverberation of a relatively recent, and excellent, event in humanity’s story: the emancipation of women.”

Eberstadt “says a large excess of deaths over births will be driven not by a brute calamity like the bubonic plague but by choices: those regarding fertility, family structures and living arrangements, all reflecting ‘a worldwide reduction in the desire for children.’”

“Today, two-thirds of the world’s population lives in countries with below-replacement levels (2.1 births per woman) of fertility. Since the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia has had 17 million more deaths than births. The 27 European Union countries are, collectively, 30 percent below replacement. Last year, France had fewer births than in 1806, when Napoleon won the Battle of Jena. Italy had the fewest since its 1861 unification, Spain the fewest since it started keeping track of this in 1859. America’s “demographic exceptionalism” is despite its fertility rate (1.62 last year), thanks to immigration.”

“Eberstadt says, as the world has become richer, healthier, more educated and more urbanized, ‘the most powerful national fertility predictor’ has been something related to these changes: changes in ‘what women want.’ Volition shapes birth rates because now people everywhere are ‘aware of the possibility of very different ways of life from the ones that confined their parents.’”

“It is possible that ‘the pervasive graying of the population and protracted population decline will hobble economic growth and cripple social welfare systems in rich countries,’ Eberstadt writes. Also: ‘A coming wave of senescence,’ smaller family units, fewer people getting married, ‘high levels of voluntary childlessness,’ ‘dwindling workforces, reduced savings and investment, unsustainable social outlays, and budget deficits’ are the fate of developed nations — unless they make ‘sweeping changes.’”

“Eberstadt is, however, tentatively cheerful: ‘Steadily improving living standards and material and technological advances will still be possible.’ The Earth ‘is richer and better fed than ever before — and natural resources are more plentiful and less expensive (after adjusting for inflation), than ever before,’ and the global population is more ‘extensively schooled’ than ever. What is required is ‘a favorable business climate,’ which is Eberstadt’s shorthand for allowing market forces to wring maximum efficiency from fewer people: ‘Prosperity in a depopulating world will also depend on open economies: free trade in goods, services, and finance to counter the constraints that declining populations otherwise engender.’”

“The ‘demographic tides’ are, Eberstadt writes, running against the quartet of nations (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea) that, oblivious of demography, are exaggerating their future powers. China’s next generation ‘is on track to be only half as large as the preceding one.’”

“Furthermore, ‘demographic trends are on course to augment American power.’”

“Although the United States is ‘a sub-replacement society, it has higher fertility levels than any East Asian country and almost all European states,’ Eberstadt says. Even more important, thanks to immigration, ‘the United States is on track to account for a growing share of the rich world’s labor force, youth, and highly educated talent.’”

“One issue in this year’s presidential campaign is germane to the convulsive demographic changes that are coming: immigration. Concerning this, Donald Trump is obtuse, and Kamala Harris has, as about most things, vagueness born of timidity.”

Conclusion

Many thanks to Eberstadt and Will for their illumination of these exceedingly important issues.

This blog has written many posts about the aging and declining population of the U.S. and many of its states and other countries in the world and the challenges that presents and to the importance of the U.S. continuing to develop policies that encourage and welcome immigrants.[4]

With some exceptions, most U.S. citizens should be glad to think and say “I am a proud descendant of immigrants to the U.S.” and support reforms of U.S. immigration law to welcome more immigrants.

=======================

[1] Eberstadt, The Age of Depopulation: Surviving a World Gone Gray, Foreign Affairs (Nov/Dec 2024)

[2] Nicolas Eberstadt, Bio & Experience; About {AEI}.

[3] Will, If demography is destiny, bring on immigration. We’re going to need it, Wash. Post (Oct. 23, 2024)

[4] Here is a list of some of the posts to dwkcommentaries regarding the challenges to public policy presented by low birthrates for the U.S. and many other countries and hence the need for more immigrants: U.S. States That Could Have Greatest Benefit from Immigrants Labor (February 28, 2024); Another Documentation of the U.S. Need for Immigrants (April 12, 2024); U.S. Fertility Rate Falls to Record Low (April 25, 2024); Will the World’s Population Cease To Expand? (May 15, 2024); Foreign Physicians Needed To Solve U.S. Doctor Shortage, (June 1, 2024);“Economist” Magazine Also Predicts Lower World Population (June 3, 2024):Pew Research Center Proposes Framework for U.S. Immigration Reform (10/2/24);The Significance of the U.S. Low Birth Rate (10/7/24);.Government Difficulties in Raising Birthrates (10/14/24)..

Cuban Priest Condemns Country’s Leaders 

Alberto Reyes Pias, the Roman Catholic parish priest of the Archdiocese of Camagüey, has delivered the following strong condemnation of Cuba’s leaders. [1]

“My words are not a cry of violence, they are not an aggressive outburst. They are simply the expression of my most serene and deepest feelings, and from there I want to say only this: ‘Go away, please, go away.’”

“You are not going to revive this country, you are not going to remedy the fuel shortage, nor the precariousness of the thermoelectric plants, nor are you going to give us back a life without continuous blackouts. You are not going to solve the hunger of this people, nor are you going to make the days stop being a continuous struggle for survival. You are not going to solve the monetary problem, nor inflation, nor the miserable life of the people.”

“The Cuban rulers “will never guarantee the health of the population, nor access to necessary medicines. Nor are they capable of preventing the deterioration of chronically ill patients, nor deaths due to the shortage of basic supplies, and they will also not be able to “repair the educational damage of this land, the deterioration of the educational system, the lack of competent teachers, and in many cases not even the lack of teachers at all.”

“You are not capable of stopping the galloping and unstoppable emigration of this people, you cannot prevent Cuba from continuing to be an island in flight, leaving behind the loss of its young people and the aging of the country, family breakups with wounds that will never heal, the loneliness of parents and grandparents, the loss of those who could have built a prosperous country here. You will never again be the sign of hope, of the desirable future, of the illusion that leads one to give one’s life.”

“Anchored in their control of power, they have turned this Island into a rudderless ship, where no one knows where it is going, where life is increasingly uncertain, where everything fades away and dies. Therefore, please, go, take everything you want and abandon this country forever. And do it before, somehow, things change and you can be judged, accused of crimes against humanity, because what you have done and are doing to this people is a silent genocide.”

“Leave, before this people reaches the end of its endurance and rises with uncontrollable fury, and consumes the end of this system, razing with blood and fire everything in its path. Because every day without light, without water, without food, every day with your children’s food spoiled, with the omnipresent scarcity and the broken desire for freedom, is a call that you make to the blindest and most excessive violence. I beg you, leave. Live where you want and can, so that we can live too.”

==================================

[1] Priest Alberto Reyes to those who govern Cuba: ‘Go away, so that we can live,’ Diario de Cuba (Oct. 7, 2024).

 

The Significance of the U.S. Low Birth Rate

This blog recently has published a number of posts about the issues posed by the current low birth rates  in the U.S. and many other countries leading to projections of aging and declining population in the U.S. and the world as a whole.[1]

This topic also was posed by the StarTribune’s recent republishing the following Washington Post editorial on the issues raised by the current low U.S. birthrate:[2]

  • “To have children or not to have them? That is the question more and more Americans are asking themselves. Only 26% say having children is extremely or very important for a fulfilling life, according to a Pew Research Center survey, whereas 71% say the same about “having a job or career they enjoy.” The U.S. fertility rate has plummeted to 1.6 lifetime births per woman, well below the “replacement rate” of around 2.1, at which point a population remains stable between generations.”
  • “Lower birthrates mean fewer young people, which means a shrinking workforce and more difficult economic growth. But there are other reasons to hope for more children, no less real for being more intangible. Mass reluctance to bring a new generation into the (admittedly troubled) world could signify growing pessimism in a society that has historically thrived on optimism. A disproportionately elderly society could be a wiser but less dynamic one, with fewer young people to take risks, contribute new ideas and — yes — provide youthful joie de vivre.’””
  • “The declining birthrate is puzzling, given that being married with children correlates with self-reported happiness — among both men and women. Nearly 40% of women who are married with children say they are “very happy,” according to the 2022 General Social Survey. It’s just 25% for those married without children, and even lower for those who are unmarried either with or without children. Meanwhile, 35% of married men with children report being very happy, compared with 14% of unmarried, childless men.”
  • “Of course, correlation is not causation. These data could indicate that having children tends to make people happy, or that happy people tend to have children. Either way, for most people, getting married is the first step to having children — and marriage is becoming less frequent. Twenty-five percent of 40-year-olds have never married, according to a Pew survey. In 1980, the figure was 6%. Unmarried rates are higher among men, who are also significantly more likely than women to want children in the first place.”
  • “In their book ‘What Are Children For?’ authors Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman show that a growing number of women say they don’t want children because of the economic costs. But the data complicate this picture. After being behind for a while, millennials have largely caught up and are even eclipsing previous generations on various income and wealth metrics. And in countries where economic supports for women are very generous, as in Norway and Finland, the fertility rate has dropped below the United States’ in recent years.”
  • “Today, having children is a choice rather than an expectation, and more women are deciding that the trade-offs are too great in light of competing life goals. If you can’t have it all, which many women feel they can’t, then a choice must be made, and having children comes to be seen increasingly as a zero-sum consideration.”
  • “This is progress. Expanding the range of choices available to individuals is what makes a free society free. Americans should not idealize a past when women were pressured into marrying unimpressive men or shamed for pursuing their careers.”
  • “But, just as people shouldn’t be pressured by circumstance into having children, they shouldn’t be dissuaded from it, either. Social expectations to engage in helicopter parenting might make having kids seem like a task only available to those with unlimited time and resources. Zoning regulations that limit housing density — including “in-law suites” — create impediments that restrict multigenerational housing, making child care harder. Major cities have become increasingly childless places: If more of your neighbors and peers are single or childless (and seem to be enjoying their lives), then this will likely temper your own enthusiasm about having kids.”
  • “As philosopher Jennifer A. Frey writes: ‘Marriage and parenthood are leaps of faith that require individuals to go from thinking and choosing for ‘me’ to thinking and choosing for ‘we.’ A leap of faith isn’t easy. Countries that have tried to boost birthrates through economic incentives have largely failed. But government could still seek to make the decision to have children easier for prospective parents: through ensuring access to decent child care, investing in high-quality education, boosting monetary assistance such as the child tax credit, permitting the construction of more and more densely built homes. Policies such as these would ease burdens on stretched families and promote healthy child-rearing — making them worthwhile regardless of whether they also supercharged American fertility.”

Conclusion

This editorial from the Washington Post focuses on the many important social and psychological and economic issues facing younger women and couples on whether to have new children. These issues should also be discussed and evaluated in light of the economic and political issues presented by an aging and declining population.

==============================

[1] See, e.g., these posts to dwkcommentaries.com: U.S. States that Could Have Greatest Benefit from Immigrant Labor (Feb. 28, 2024); Another Documentation of the U.S. Need for Immigrants (April 12, 2024); U.S. Fertility Rate Falls to Record Low (April 25, 2024); More Thoughts on U.S. Low Fertility Rate (May 1, 2024); Minnesota Will Suffer from a Crackdown on U.S. Immigration (May 5, 2024); Negative Impact on Minnesota of Donald Trump’s Immigration Restrictions (May 15, 2024); Will the World’s Population Cease To Expand? (May 16, 2024); Foreign Physicians Needed To Solve U.S. Doctor Shortage, dwkcommentaries.com (June 1, 2024); “Economist” Magazine Also Predicts Lower World Population (June 3, 2024);Minnesota Experiencing Increasing Shortages of Physicians and Nurses (Sept. 3, 3024).

[2] Editorial, What a low birthrate means in America, StarTribune (October 6, 2024).

 

 

 

Cuban Priest Voices Harsh Criticism of Cuban Regime 

A Cuban Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Camaguey, Alberto Reyes,  said in a visit to the U.S. that Cuba is experiencing one of the hardest times in recent years. “It would seem, and it is my hope, that this is a terminal moment, because it is very difficult (…) Civil society in Cuba feels very vulnerable and defenseless . Every time the Cuban people have tried to do something –we already know that July 11 marked a before and after–the repression has been total, the punishments have been exemplary.” [1]

“People are afraid, and the government is afraid, because the government knows that it has lost the heart of the people. . . . ” This is a moment of pure and simple dictatorship . It is a moment in which, clearly, there is a government that is subjugating a people who do not want it.”

“The current atmosphere on the island is one of seeking an answer to ‘how am I going to leave’ the country . With the humanitarian parole, he added, the churches in Cuba “have emptied, especially of young people.”

“The government’s only interest is to stay in power. The people must find a way to survive, and if they protest and rise up, [the government] will repress them, control them and give them a little gift, a little food, to calm them down, and in this way we will put out the fires that appear.”

The non-state sector empower[s] Cubans, as they offer them means and possibilities that the Government does not provide, but the new economic measures have caused the closure of many of these small and medium-sized companies.”

There is the “institutionalized lie in Cuba. They lie to you by looking you in the eye. They lie to you on television,” as with promises of a quick improvement in the electricity service.

“Freedom is a matter of choice. Everything in this life has a price. Speaking has a price, keeping quiet has a price, demonstrating has a price (…), confronting the government has a price; playing the government’s game has a price.”

“To think that if instead of hiding or masking the truth of what we are experiencing, we decide to be clear and speak openly, we will generate an environment of civic honesty, we will prevent the impunity of those who lie, and we will all be better off. To think that if we do not give complicit answers, if we do not attend the demonstrations of revolutionary reaffirmation, nor the combative marches, nor all the meetings of predetermined responses and, on the contrary, we decide to stay at home, defying the threats from school or the workplace, we will be manifesting our will from silence, and we will all be better off.”

The priest called on people to teach their children “to express themselves from the truth of what they feel and to defend everything that is good, noble and just” in order to create “generations capable of cleaning up decades of duplicity and falsehood.“

“To think that if you belong to the judicial system and are able to defend the innocent and not condemn those who are prosecuted for exercising their rights, you will be helping to clean up the justice system and restore the rule of law that protects the common citizen, including yourself, and we will all be better off. To think that if you have a private business and it goes well, and even at the risk of ‘getting into trouble’ you take the side of the poor who claim their rights, and you do not turn a blind eye to injustice and lies, you will be helping to build a society capable of protecting itself and protecting you, and we will all be better off,” he added.

He also called on members of the military to “protect citizens who demand their rights” and not to lend themselves “to repressing those who demand change and freedom.”

“Thinking that change does not come by itself, nor can it be left to simple time, but that it happens when we help each other, and together we build our dream, the dream of a country of freedom, justice, truth and prosperity that allows everyone to be better off,” he concluded.

======================

[1] Father Alberto Reyes on what Cuba is experiencing: a ‘pure and hard dictatorship,’ Diario de Cuba. (Sept.23, 2024).

 

 

Cuban Catholics Request Help from Spanish Catholics 

“The Cuban Catholic Church has 374 priests , which means that Cuba has the highest ratio of Catholics per priest in the world: 20,872 faithful per priest. In addition, the other religious, 490 nuns and 173 monks, are mostly foreigners and there are only 27 seminarians in the entire country, so that the “cornerstone” of the Cuban Church are the 3,699 lay people who sometimes offer their own homes to set up small chapels where the Eucharist is celebrated.”[1]

Moreover, “Relations between the regime and the [Cuban] Catholic Church are currently tense , due to the constant criticism published by several priests on their Facebook profiles, referring to the comprehensive breakdown of Cuban society.”

These circumstances prompted Monsignor Emilio Aranguren, the bishop of Holguín and president of the Confederation of Catholic Bishops of Cuba, [to ask] Spanish Catholics for help this week to cope with ‘the worst moment’ of the many he has experienced in his long pastoral life.”

Aranguren explained that “the current situation is worse than what we saw in the 1990s, in the so-called ‘special period’. There is a great shortage of basic necessities that can only be obtained at exorbitant prices.”

He “also said that ‘the issue of medicines is very serious. For example, there are many problems in finding the necessary medicine in cases of dementia and this makes the sick very upset and makes their life and the lives of those around them very difficult.’”

“The bishop stressed that ‘our Church is synodal, united, alive, attentive, but it is also a poor Church. The great challenge of the Cuban Church is the proclamation of the Gospel, and in this we are not alone, ACN supports us. The Church in Cuba is a Church that remains, like a beacon that stands firm, that announces to people who are in despair. This light attracts and guides, and we are called to respond.’”

The bishop added, “’Cubans go through many difficulties in Cuba and need the comfort offered by priests,’ noting that the island has ‘very few priests’ who have to travel long distances to be able to serve all their parishioners.”

======================

[1]  The Catholic Church in Cuba asks Spanish religious for help to continue its mission, Diario de Cuba (Sept. 5, 2024).

 

 

Cuban Christian Group Demands Release of Political Prisoners and Registration of New Churches  

On June 28, 2024, the Alliance of Christians of Cuba (ACC) at its annual meeting adopted the following declaration:[1]

  1. “We are against the government policy of violating the right to freedom of religion and belief contained in article 18 of the International Bill of Human Rights. And we demand that the legal framework be drafted that allows new churches to be registered in order to have legal support within Cuban law. This is necessary so that the Cuban government or any social actor can be held to account when they violate freedom of religion and belief.”
  2. “We demand that the Cuban government respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which it is a signatory, and that it integrates the treaties on civil and political liberties that offer a legal framework for respect for the fundamental freedoms of human beings. This implies the immediate release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who remain in the island’s prisons today, and the immediate cessation of the application of pre-criminal judicial processes because they directly violate the international right to the presumption of innocence, a right that is mentioned in the current constitution of the Republic of Cuba.“
  3. “We demand that the Cuban government respect and support the dignity of women and that violence and femicides within the island cease. For this we demand an economic opening that allows Cuban women to have a decent salary for their work and so that they are not forced to prostitute themselves to obtain food and cover the basic needs of their family. To mitigate against violence against women, we demand that police authorities focus their work on protecting citizens instead of spending their resources on persecuting those who think differently and demonstrate against government policy.”
  4. “We demand the cessation of all manifestations of slavery exercised by the Cuban government. The current situation of workers on the island continues to be precarious as, for their efforts, Cuban citizens do not receive a salary that covers their basic needs despite generating large income that ends up in the government’s coffers. We also support the international lawsuit for practicing slavery that the Cuban government faces because it uses “medical missions” as a source of foreign currency income for the country, in the process violating the fundamental rights of medical personnel working abroad.”

Background of the Alliance

The Alliance, which  now has more than 60 congregation members, was founded in November 2022.

In November 2023 at its third national meeting its members of “various denominations” adopted a declaration “to strengthen the work of God in the Cuban nation with an emphasis on the establishment of God’s justice.” [2]  By its terms the  members “commit themselves:

  • “To develop and maintain fellowship based in mutual respect and collaboration to help, heal, and edify our churches, communities, and nation from a basis of faith in the importance of family life, the inherent value and rights of all human beings, the respect for rule of law, appreciation for education, learning, the promotion of social justice, and the help  for those in need, which form part of the foundation of Christian humanism.”
  • “For this, through communion and unity, we will promote justice, truth, righteousness, and freedom of conscience of our rights as Cuban citizens.”
  • “We commit ourselves to work for the healing of wounds in our damaged nation, divided by a failed social project which continues to strip its citizens of their dignity as human beings. We will strive to create an atmosphere of mutual understanding, respect and compassion between Cubans on the island and in the diaspora.”
  • “We work and will work to advocate for more political economic, religious and social freedoms so that all Cubans can live in dignity and self-determination.”
  • “We make it clear that as Christians and the church of Jesus Christ and as Cuban citizens we bless and honour the nation of Israel and we condemn, wholeheartedly, the acts of terrorism committed against that nation.”
  • “We ask the authorities of the Cuban nation: For the liberation of all those imprisoned for exercising their inherent rights. That each religious movement on the island might exercise its right to associate, obtaining legal status and protection under the law. That they respect the right of each Cuban citizen to exercise all their inherent rights and that they do not persecute them for this.”
  • “Brothers and sisters around the world, we ask, pray for the Cuban nation. God bless everyone. Long live Christ the King.”

ACC’s UK Ally (CSW)

ACC’s work has been approvingly mentioned by CSW (Christian Solidarity Worldwide), an international organization focused on religious freedom and based in the United Kingdom. Its “team of specialist advocates work on over 20 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, to ensure that the right to freedom of religion or belief is upheld and protected. Our vision is a world free of religious persecution, where everyone can practice a religion or belief of their choice.”[3]

Its most recent annual report has great details about Cuba.[4]

========================

[1] Declaration of the Alliance of Christians of Cuba June 2024, (06/28/24); Religious groups call for protections of religion or belief, csw.org (06/28/24); The Alliance of Christians of Cuba demands the regime release political prisoners and permits to register new churches, Diario de Cuba  (06//28/24).

[2] Christian leaders call for change, csw.org (11/04/23)

[3 ] About CSW.

[4] CSW, Cuba: Report finds return to hardline tactics (03/14/24)

Westminster Presbyterian Church’s Growing Season                     

Rev. Dr. Jeff Japinga, Transitional Senior Pastor for Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian Church, has the following message for our living in this “growing season:”[1]

“The church year calls this long stretch of time as the growing season, with green as its liturgical color. What better time, then, to do here at Westminster what we are inclined to do in our lives—to turn ourselves inside out. To live on the outside instead of simply in our own hearts and minds—or in our own sanctuary. And so we will…

  • “Stand with friends and allies in Loring Park for Twin Cities Pride Festival, with a message that ‘All are welcome in God’s church.’”
  • “Invite our neighbors to the plaza on six consecutive Wednesdays for Bluegrass Evening Prayer, stepping outside into their world instead of simply inviting them inside into ours.”
  • “Return to Loring Park in late July for the art festival, adding our particular good news to the incredible creativity we see from artists.”
  • “And behind the scenes, take moments during this slightly slower time to plan what our efforts in justice will look like year-round, living out our 12th Street sign: ‘Justice is what love looks like in public.’”

“Church is the community that incarnates love both within its own fellowship and love for the larger world. What better time to follow God’s leading and turn ourselves out toward the whole people of God than the inside-out month of July?”

Our “growing season” includes the continuing work of our Westminster Town Hall Advisory Board, the Member-to-Member Ministry Team, the Westminster Counseling Center, the Youth Service-Learning Trips  and the Pastor Nominating Committee.[2]

================

[1] Rev. Japinga, From Our Pastor, Westminster News (July 2024).

[2] Westminster News (July 2024).

U.S. Criticizes Cuban Religious Freedom 

On June 27, 2024,  the U.S. State Department released its lengthy 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom. Surprisingly it did not contain an overall summary of this freedom in the world for 2023. [1]

Instead it opened with a short Overview and Acknowledgements followed by the texts of the following sources of the law on international religious freedom:

  • Appendix A: Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • Appendix B: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
  • Appendix C: Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief
  • Appendix D: Religious Freedom Provisions, Commitments, and Obligations From Regional Bodies and Instruments
  • Appendix E: Department of State Training Related to the International Religious Freedom Act-2003
  • Appendix F: Department of Homeland Security and the International Religious Freedom Act
  • Appendix G: Overview of U.S. Refugee Policy-2023

The State Department report then contained separate summaries of religious freedom in all the world’s countries, starting with Afghanistan and ending with Zimbabwe.

Report on Cuba

The report on Cuban religious freedom had the following sections: Executive Summary, Religious Demography, Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom, Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom and U.S. Government Policy and Engagement.

Here is that Executive Summary:

“The constitution contains written provisions for religious freedom and prohibitions against discrimination based on religious grounds; however, provisions in the penal and administrative codes contravene these protections. The constitution declares the country a secular state and provides for the separation of religious institutions and the state, but the Cuban Communist Party (CCP), through its Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), regulates religious practice. The law requires all religious groups to apply to the MOJ for official registration. By law, membership in or association with an unregistered group is a crime. The penal code stipulates a minimum sentence of six months’ incarceration, a fine, or both for individuals who attempt to conscientiously object to military service or prevent minors from attending public school, including those whose objections are based on their religious beliefs. It also imposes sentences of up to 10 years’ imprisonment on persons receiving funding from foreign organizations or for financing activities considered to be directed against the state or its constitutional order. The family code states parents have the responsibility to instill in children love for the homeland, respect for its symbols, and respect for government authorities.”

“In its annual Watch List, the Christian nongovernmental organization (NGO) Open Doors reported an increase in government persecution of Christians from 2019 to 2023, including use of repressive tactics against religious leaders and activists opposing CCP ideology through arrests, exile, arbitrary fines, surveillance, denials of licenses, religious visas, freedom of movement, and physical and mental abuse. According to CSW’s (formerly known as Christian Solidarity Worldwide) annual report released in February and covering 2022, there were 657 violations of freedom of religion or belief compared with 272 reported violations in 2021. Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, sentenced in 2022 to seven years in prison on charges of disrespect, assault, criminal incitement, and public disorder, remained in prison at year’s end. Free Yorubas of Cuba (Free Yorubas) leaders and married couple Donaida Perez Paseiro and Loreto Hernandez Garcia also remained in prison through year’s end. Independent media sources reported authorities routinely denied Hernandez Garcia’s family’s request for medical attention for him. Three “Ladies in White” – Sayli Navarro Alvarez, Tania Echevarria Mendez, and Sissi Abascal Zamora – remained in prison for their participation in the 2021 public protests against the government. In March, Abascal’s mother told Radio Television Marti that prison authorities had reduced the three women’s food rations by 50 percent. The government continued to pressure regime critics – including religious leaders – to self-exile. In November, a multidenominational group of church leaders, the Alliance of Christians of Cuba (ACC), issued a public declaration calling for political and religious reform, including for the protection of freedom of religion or belief. Religious groups said the ORA and the MOJ continued to deny official registration to certain religious groups and failed to respond to long-pending applications, such as those for Jehovah’s Witnesses and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church of Jesus Christ).”

“During the year, there were reports of incidents of theft and vandalism of churches, which one cleric described as part of the “growing wave of social indiscipline and societal violence against religious institutions.” In October, representatives of Afro-Cuban, Muslim, Jewish religious communities and Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and evangelical Protestant Christian groups participated in two religious freedom roundtables. State security detained a few participants when traveling to the event, including Pastor Alejandro Hernandez Cepero. Some religious groups and organizations, such as the Catholic charity Caritas, continued to gather and distribute relief items, providing humanitarian assistance to individuals regardless of religious belief.”

“In public statements and on social media, U.S. government officials, including the Secretary of State, continued to call upon the government to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its citizens, including the freedom of religion or belief. In January and July, Department of State and embassy officials raised Pastor Rosales Fajardo’s case with officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On October 27, in commemoration of International Religious Freedom Day, the Assistant Secretary for Western Hemispheric Affairs tweeted a call for the Cuban government to release Pastor Rosales Fajardo, who was involved in the 2021 protests and is the pastor of the unregistered nondenominational Monte de Scion Church. Embassy officials met regularly with a range of religious groups concerning the state of religious freedom and political activities related to the religious groups’ beliefs.”

“On December 29, 2023, in accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as amended, the Secretary of State designated Cuba a “Country of Particular Concern” for having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom. For Cuba, existing ongoing restrictions are referenced in 31 CFR 515.201 and the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (Helms-Burton Act), pursuant to section 402(c)(5) of the Act.”[2]

Cuban Reactions

As reported by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, “during 2023 at least 936 actions against the exercise of religious freedom took place on the island according to facts documented by that NGO based in Madrid . . . just when the regime had prohibited  the holding of Holy Week processions in some locations in the country, such as El Vedado (Havana City) or Bayamo, where one of the most notorious protests occurred on March 17.”

“According to data collected by the OCDH, the violations have targeted ‘publicly identified religious persons’ as well as others who ‘regularly or sporadically attend religious services as an expression of faith or civic commitment.’”

“For example, the NGO documented four summons and interrogations in official offices against members of the Centro de Estudios Convivencia , such as Yoandy Izquierdo Toledo and Dagoberto Valdés Hernández, director of the Christian-inspired institution ‘that promotes thought and proposals for the future of Cuba in different sectors and topics,’ the report indicated.”

“In 2023, numerous relatives of political prisoners denounced the denial of religious assistance in prisons, as in the cases of Roberto Pérez Fonseca and the brothers Nadir and Jorge Martín Perdomo, imprisoned for demonstrating on 11J.”

“The report also included “the cruelty against the Yoruba priest Loreto Hernández García , political prisoner of 11J, who [did] not receive adequate medical care or food in prison in accordance with his sufferings. On June 12, 2023, the religious man was admitted to the Hospital Provincial Clinical Surgical University Arnaldo Milián Castro, of Santa Clara, due to his delicate state of health.”

“The OCDH stated that, as is standard practice of the Cuban regime’s police apparatus, ‘the most frequent repressive actions in this area were arbitrary arrests and the sieging of family homes to prevent attendance at Sunday masses; especially against members of the Ladies in White, who were victims of several hundred anti-religious actions, usually against freedom of worship.’”

“Likewise, in January 2023, the State Security of San José de Las Lajas , in Mayabeque, ‘forbade mothers of imprisoned 9/11 protesters from attending church to pray for the freedom of their loved ones. Layda Jacinto Abad, mother of Aníbal Palau Jacinto; Marta Perdomo, mother of the brothers Jorge and Nadir Martín Perdomo, and Liset Fonseca, mother of Roberto Pérez Fonseca, had announced that they intended to take a weekly Sunday walk to the local Catholic church to demand freedom. of their children.’”

“The OCDH recalled that in its Second Study on Religious Freedom on the Island it determined that 68% of the Cubans consulted knew someone who professes a religion and has been harassed, repressed, threatened or hindered in their daily life for reasons related to that faith.”

“The predominant opinion is that among the main reasons why a believer may suffer harassment, threats or discrimination are ‘having a political position based on their faith’ (59%) and ‘speaking publicly about their faith’ (45%),” the report recalled.”

“The investigation also determined that 68% of believers believe that the Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party of Cuba, the department that controls and directs the repression against religious organizations on the island, violates or represses their rights.”

“’From the study it emerged that the Cuban regime continues to use its surveillance and control systems to limit or persecute any public expression , especially political, of those who assume a civic commitment in accordance with the values ​​of their faith. Likewise, it limits social action and influence. of religious entities or congregations, above all those that demand a greater presence in public spaces and in communities,’ he concluded.”

This Blogger’s Reactions

This blogger is not Cuban, but he is a member of Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian Church, which has had a partnership with a Presbyterian church in Matanzas, Cuba for over 20 years, and he visited that church three times in the early 2000s and has heard reports from other Westminster members who have been there more recently. In addition, Cuban pastors from that Cuban church have visited and preached at our Minneapolis church.[3]

Based on that personal experience, I can testify that there are Cubans who have a strong Christian faith, who participate in the lives of their church and their fellow members and neighbors and who have developed strong connections with Westminster members. I have not heard of any efforts by the Cuban government to restrict their religious faith and practices.

==========================

[1] U.S. State Dep’t,  2023 Report on International Religious Freedom (June 27, 2024).; The lack of religious freedom persists in Cuba: the US presents its 2023 world report, Diario de Cuba IJune 27, 2024); There were more than 900 violations against the religious freedom of Cubans in 2023, Diario de Cuba (June 27, 2024).

[2]  See U.S. Designates Cuba as a “Country of Particular Concern” Regarding Religious Freedom, dwkcommentaries.com (Jan. 8, 2024). 

[3]  See, e.g., the following ports to dwkcommentaries.com: The Cuban Revolution and Religion, (12/30/11); Praise God for Leading U.S. and Cuba to Reconciliation (12/26/14): Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian Church Celebrates U.S.-Cuba Reconciliation (1/04/15); Presbyterian Church’s Connections with Cuba (01/13/15); Religious Leaders Support U.S.-Cuba Reconciliation (05/04/15); A Protestant Christian’s Reactions to Pope Francis’ Mission to the Cuban and American People (10/26/15).

 

 

 

 

Cameroonians Making Home in Minnesota

By 2022 an estimated 3,600 Cameroonians called the State of Minnesota home, more than doubling since 2016.[1]

A member of this group, Adrian Abongmbu, who came here around 12 years ago, believes this growth is due to the affordable cost of living here. He said, the costs here are “very moderate. And it’s very family-friendly. It’s easy for people to start their lives in Minnesota.” He, his wife and three children live here and were joined by his mother after she immigrated from Cameroon in 2021. “It’s not uncommon for Cameroonians in the State to encourage family members and friends in other states to move here,” Adrian said.

Another Cameroonian resident of Minnesota, Florence Wanda and her husband run a nonprofit for education and heritage preservation that this September will host the Minnesota African Cultural Festival while her daughter, Modoh, is chief executive officer of the state’s first African Fashion Week.

Yet another Cameroonian resident of this State, Manka Nkimbeng, is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and a member of her tribe’s Cultural and Development Association. She recently participated in a Mother’s Day event in St. Paul while taking a limo ride around the city.

In 2022 more than 89,000 people in the U.S. reported Cameroon as their place of birth. Those without U.S. documentation are eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) through June 2025. The U.S. Government can extend that designation if their home country is determined still to be unsafe for deportation although that status does not provide a path for U.S. citizenship.

This blogger’s church in downtown Minneapolis, Westminster Presbyterian, has a small group of Cameroonian members, who inspired the church to establish a global partnership with a Presbyterian church in that country.

And a former Westminster Senior Pastor, Rev. Arnold Lowe (1941-1965) after his ordination in 1912 had served as a missionary in Kamerun when it was a German colony, and his daughter made a significant financial gift in his honor to the Presbyterian seminary in Cameroon.

This blogger enjoyed a trip to visit that church and seminary and learn more about the country, which has been undergoing a challenging time over disputes between the French-speaking majority (Francophones) and the English-speaking minority (Anglophones) as a result of those countries assuming responsibility for that country after Germany was stripped of its African colonies after World War I by the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations.[2]

========================

[1] Ansari & Tu, Though small in numbers, Cameroonians are beginning to make a mark in Minnesota. StarTribune (June 8, 2024).

[2] See List of Posts to dwkcommentaries—Topical: CAMEROON; Kamerun, Wikipedia.  See also “A Preacher for the times; THE REVEREND ARNOLD LOWE” (pp. 84-91) in LIVING FAITH: Stories from the first 150 years, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1857-2007, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

 

U.S. Critical of Cuban Religious Freedom 

On May 1 the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom published its annual report for 2023.[1]

This report included its List of Countries of Special Concern. In addition to Cuba the other countries on this list were Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Report’s Key Findings on Cuba[2]

“In 2023, religious freedom conditions in Cuba remained extremely poor. The government maintained an oppressive legal framework that severely restricted peaceful religious activity, regularly harassed religious leaders and worshipers, and continued to wrongfully imprison individuals for their peaceful religious activity.”

“In May 2023, the Cuban government approved the Social Communication Law, which codifies broad prohibitions on peaceful expression, including religious expression that is critical of the government. The legislation expands the government’s already extensive authority to target individuals freely expressing their religious convictions. For example, the amended Cuban Penal Code criminalizes “contempt,” “public disorder,” and “resistance,” each of which may be used to punish the activities of religious leaders and worshipers perceived to be critical of the government. In addition, Decree Law 370 threatens independent journalists reporting on religious freedom with criminal charges and fines.”

“Throughout 2023, the Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) continued to regulate and control religious institutions. The Law of Associations requires religious organizations to apply to the Ministry of Justice, where the ORA is housed, for registration. Membership or association with an unregistered religious group is a crime and, despite existing criteria, registration decisions are often arbitrary and discriminatory. The ORA also exercises arbitrary control over the affairs of registered religious organizations and requires permission for virtually any activity other than regular worship services. Religious leaders and groups that are unregistered or conduct unsanctioned religious activity are subject to interrogation, detention, threats of prison sentences on false charges, and confiscation of property.”

“The government draws on its vast domestic security and surveillance apparatus to harass and intimidate religious leaders and worshipers, including through the Department of State Security, the National Revolutionary Police, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. For example, Cuban authorities regularly and arbitrarily prevented individuals from peacefully gathering at religious sites and events. In January 2023, the government prohibited mothers of political prisoners from attending church to pray for their release. In March, police beat and detained a couple on their way to church after alleging that the couple was going to “take communion against communism.” In June, police prevented a journalist from attending the funeral mass of a priest whose remains had been transferred to the cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. In October, Cuban authorities detained two pastors who were scheduled to attend an event on the right to freedom of religion or belief. Additionally, authorities pressured individuals whose religious expressions ran afoul of government orthodoxy. In May, a professor threatened a university student with expulsion after the student refused to sign a document committing himself to Cuba’s governing ideology for reasons of religious conscience. And in September, police interrogated a young man who disseminated religiously inspired videos online and pressured him to refrain from speaking critically about the government.”

“Religious prisoners of conscience remain arbitrarily imprisoned for peacefully following their religious convictions. For example, Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, the pastor and leader of the Monte de Sion Independent Church, has been in prison since 2021 for his peaceful participation in the protests on July 11, 2021. Twins Lisdani Rodríguez Isaac and Lisdiani Rodríguez Isaac, members of the Free Yorubas, an independent religious group, also remain imprisoned for their peaceful participation in the July 11 protests. The authorities denied the twins’ application for transfer to a lower-security prison.”

Report’s Recommendations to U.S. Government[3]

 “Redesignate Cuba as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA);”

“Urge Cuban authorities to extend an official invitation for unrestricted visits to USCIRF, the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, and the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; and”

“Impose targeted sanctions on Cuban government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom— including the ORA, the Department of State Security, the National Revolutionary Police, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution—by freezing those individuals’ assets and/or barring their entry to the United States under human rights-related financial and visa authorities.”

Report’s Recommendations to U.S. Congress[4]

“The U.S. Congress should: ”Highlight religious freedom concerns in Cuba through hearings and letters and by advocating for the release of religious prisoners of conscience such as Lisdiani Rodríguez Isaac, Lisdani Rodríguez Isaac, Donaida Pérez Paseiro, Loreto Hernández García, and Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo.”

======================

[1] U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2024 Annual Report (May 2024).The US maintains the Cuban regime on its blacklist of countries that violate religious freedom, Diario de Cuba (May 2, 2024)

[2] Report at 26.

[3]  Ibid. The State Department on December 29, 2023, redesignated Cuba as a Country of Particular Concern. (U.S. Designates Cuba as a “Country of Particular Concern” Regarding Religious Freedom, dwkcommentaries.com (Jan. 6. 2024).

[4]  Report at 26.