Washington — Protecting religious freedom in countries around the world promotes peace, stability and security for the international community and remains a fundamental concern of the United States, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said at the rollout of the State Department's 14th annual International Religious Freedom Report.
"Religious freedom is both an essential element of human dignity and of secure, thriving societies," Clinton said July 30 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. "It's been statistically linked with economic development and democratic stability, and it creates a climate in which people from different religions can move beyond distrust and work together to solve their shared problems."
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