Religious freedom is a fundamental human right of every person on earth. It has been recognized by international accords and by the Second Vatican Council. But religious liberty is under attack in many countries around the world.

The United States committed itself to the promotion of religious liberty through its foreign policy in the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). The law provides that it will be the policy of the United Sates to condemn violations of religious freedom and to promote and assist other governments in the promotion of the fundamental right to freedom of religion.

Congress felt it was necessary to make this clear in the IRFA because it is easy to forget about religious freedom when policymakers are so focused on national security, economic issues and other human rights that religious freedom is forgotten.

Although much of the motivation for passage of this act was concern over the persecution of Christians, the law is generic -- it applies to all religions.

The IRFA provides for the creation of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), to which President Barack Obama recently appointed me. The purpose of the commission is to review annually the efforts of the U.S. government in implementing the IRFA.

The most recent USCIRF report, written before I was appointed, was released April 30. It is the 15th report issued by the commission and is divided into four parts, but in this column, I will focus on the first part: a discussion of the international standards for religious freedom.

What is religious freedom?

The first point to be made is that religious freedom is not just for believers. It also includes nonbelievers. Properly speaking, it is "freedom of religion or belief." It protects a person's right to hold or not hold any religion or belief. So religious freedom must also protect the atheist.

Nor is it only for religious minorities. It also applies to those of the majority who might want to debate or dissent from views within the majority religion.

One frequent mistake is to equate freedom of religion with freedom of worship. Even some American policymakers have spoken of freedom of worship rather than freedom of religion.

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Religious freedom is a fundamental human right