VOA常速英语:自由民主是人权的最佳保障

Next, an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.
Religious freedom is a fundamental right enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Peter Berkowitz, the Director of Policy Planning at the State Department, said there is a correlation between countries that protect religious freedom and those that respect other basic rights:

“We know as an empirical matter the high correlation between countries that protect religious liberty and countries that protect all the other freedoms that the United States has traditionally cared about. And this of course makes sense if you’re protecting the liberty to have a difference of opinion about one of the matters that human beings have fought over most. Differences of opinion about God.” The United States Declaration of Independence and the U.N Declaration of Human Rights, said Director Berkowitz, set forth a universal standard for judging all forms of government and is what all governments should aspire to. He also expressed his hope that “people come to an appreciation that . . .liberal democracy, is the form of government best suited to vindicating human rights.”
That was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.