Religious police found in nearly one-in-ten countries worldwide

[rug]

March 19, 2014
By Angelina Theodorou

As of 2012, at least 17 nations (9% worldwide) have police that enforce religious norms, according to a new Pew Research analysis of 2012 data. These actions are particularly common in the Middle East and North Africa, where roughly one-third of countries (35%) have police enforcing religious norms.

For example, in Saudi Arabia, where President Obama will meet with King Abdullah later this month, the Muttawa religious police (formally known as the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice) impose a government-approved moral code on residents of the country. The Muttawa enforce strict segregation of the sexes, prohibition of the sale and consumption of alcohol, a ban on women driving and other social restrictions based on the government’s interpretation of Islam.

Earlier this month, Saudi religious police destroyed an ancient burial site in the southern city of al-Baha after claiming the graveyard was un-Islamic. And last month, they conducted anti-Valentine’s Day patrols, monitoring businesses that were selling chocolates, flowers and red or heart-shaped souvenirs.

Saudi Arabia is not alone in its use of a religious police force. In the Asia-Pacific region, police enforcing religious norms are found in eight of 50 countries (16%). In Vietnam, the government’s religious security police continued to monitor “extremist” religious groups, detaining and interrogating suspected Dega Protestants or Ha Mon Catholics. And in Malaysia, state Islamic religious enforcement officers and police carried out raids to enforce sharia law against indecent dress, banned publications, alcohol consumption and khalwat (close proximity to a member of the opposite sex), according to the U.S. State Department.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/03/19/religious-police-found-in-nearly-one-in-ten-countries-worldwide/

Lots of links in the article. It's a veritable primer on what is -and is not - theocracy.

[PumpkinAle]

1. And we have this..........

In response to a string of at least 10 unsolved sexual assaults in Brooklyn, New York police are reportedly stopping women on the street who are wearing clothing they say is revealing and advising them to cover up if they don’t want to be raped. The Wall Street Journal reports on the disturbing message police officers are allegedly spreading:
Lauren, a South Slope resident, was walking home three blocks from the gym on Monday when she was stopped. The 25-year-old, who did not want her last name to be used, was wearing shorts and a T-shirt when she claims a police officer asked if she would stop and talk to him. He also stopped two other women wearing dresses. [...]
“He pointed at my outfit and said, ‘Don’t you think your shorts are a little short?‘” she recalled. “He pointed at their dresses and said they were showing a lot of skin.”
He said that such clothing could make the suspect think he had “easy access,” said Lauren. She said the officer explained that “you’re exactly the kind of girl this guy is targeting.”
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/09/30/333291/sexual-assaults-new-york-police/

And this..........

Anybody who knows Oklahoma District Court Judge Mike Norman probably yawned at the news that he’d sentenced a teen offender to attend church as part of his probation arrangement, and that the judge’s pastor was in the courtroom at the time.
Not only had he handed down such a sentence before, but he’d required one man to bring the church program back with him when he reported to court.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/11/oklahoma-judge-sentences-teen-to-church-for-10-years/

For many on the far right they only wish America was a real Theocracy - on their terms, of course.

[Jim__]

2. In Vietnam, it sounds more like the anti-religious police.

From a report linked to from the article:

...

FINDINGS:

The government of Vietnam continues to expand control over all religious activities,
severely restrict independent religious practice, and repress individuals and religious groups it views
as challenging its authority. Religious activity continues to grow
in Vietnam and the government has made some important changes in the past decade in response to international attention, including from its designation as a “country of particular concern” (CPC). Nevertheless, authorities continue to
imprison or detain individuals for reasons related to their religious activity or religious freedom
advocacy; independent religious activity remains repressed; the government maintains a specialized
police for dealing with religious groups; legal protections for government-approved religious
organizations are subject to arbitrary or discriminatory interpretations based on political factors; and
converts to ethnic-minority Protestantism and Catholicism face discrimination, intimidation, and
pressure to renounce their faith.

Given these systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations, USCIRF recommends that Vietnam be
designated as a Country of Particular Concern country. The Commission has recommended that
Vietnam be named a CPC since 2001. The State Department did so in 2004 and 2005, but removed
the designation in 2006 because of progress toward fulfilling a binding agreement.

In this reporting period, groups and individuals viewed as hostile to the Communist Party or that
refuse government oversight were arrested, detained, and harassed. Vietnam also issued a revised
decree on religion that expanded control over religious affairs. Government officials continued to
target Catholic communities, including with destruction of properties, detentions, and arrests. Police
used force against Catholic clergy engaged in religious activities and continue to restrict members of
the Redemptorist Order. Independent Protestants and Catholics in the Central Highlands were
detained, beaten, and arrested in an ongoing campaign to repress their activities. Hoa Hao activists
were sentenced for documenting religious freedom violations. Independent Hoa Hoa congregations,
Cao Dai and Khmer Buddhist temples, and United Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) pagodas
faced harassment and restrictions. Human rights defender Le Quoc Quan was arrested and is being
held without charge.

...

[rug]

3. When you get right down to it, they are both essentially ideology police.

[Jim__]

4. I think that's right.