Muslim tolerance
Religion & Liberty Online

Muslim tolerance

At 93% Muslim—Orthodox churches account for most of the rest—Azerbaijan is the sort of country that tends to lack what some have called “reciprocity,” meaning that Christians enjoy the same freedom relative to the Muslim majority as Muslims do in Christian-majority nations. Amidst the justifiable attention and worry religious liberty advocates have lately devoted to the problem (see our own John Couretas on Turkey), it is good to note instances of progress. Such a story emerges this week from the former Soviet republic, where the pope’s representative was on hand to mark the opening of the country’s first Roman Catholic church.

This is not to say that Azerbaijan has become a paragon of religious liberty (see this summary), but permission to erect a place of public worship is at least a step in the right direction.

Kevin Schmiesing

Kevin Schmiesing, Ph.D., is a research fellow for the research department at the Acton Institute. He is a frequent writer on Catholic social thought and economics, is the author of American Catholic Intellectuals, 1895-1955 (Edwin Mellen Press, 2002) and is most recently the author of Within the Market Strife: American Catholic Economic Thought from Rerum Novarum to Vatican II (Lexington Books, 2004). Dr. Schmiesing holds a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in history from Franciscan University ofSteubenville. Author of Within the Market Strife and American Catholic Intellectuals, 1895—1955 (2002), he serves as Book Review Editor for the Journal of Markets & Morality. He is also executive director of CatholicHistory.net.