World history is replete with conflicts between people, people groups, nations, military forces and despots specifically because of religious beliefs, affiliations, and practices. Groups and individuals have suffered religious persecution of many forms. This struggle for religious freedom has been carried on by members of every major religion and by small sects, striving to worship according to their deeply held beliefs and convictions. This category exists specifically to tell the story of people who have struggled for religious freedom in diverse places around the world and throughout history.
QUALIFYING SITES:
Any site, regardless of the specific religion, which is clearly identified with the struggle for religious freedom is welcome as a waymark.
1). Statues, plaques, monuments, memorials, tombs, or other representations of individuals, or groups of people, who have been persecuted or martyred for their religious beliefs or practices.
2). Statues, plaques, monuments, memorials, tombs, or other representations of individuals, who have made a significant and historically recognized contribution to the cause of religious freedom in some way.
3). Buildings, identifiable geographic features, or other physical sites clearly associated with a particular event significant to the struggle for religious freedom, and clearly identified as such.
Buildings, such as churches, or other sites that are merely named for a religious martyr or other person qualifying under the foregoing criteria do NOT qualify unless there is some additional specific memorial to that person's status as significant to the cause of religious freedom.
NOTE: Any of the above must be clearly and specifically identified as related to religious freedom per se. If the site relates to an individual, there must be a definite reference at the site or on the memorial to his/her contribution to the cause of religious freedom. The same qualification applies to other sites.
Since religion is often closely associated with ethnicity, nationality, or political affiliation, it is essential to distinguish among these. Most cases of genocide, for instance, are based more on ethnic, tribal, social or political association rather than religious factors alone, although members of that group may be predominantly affiliated with a particular religion. The best known example is the brutal campaign of extermination carried out against the Jews by Hitler and the Nazi Party. All Jews, regardless of their religious views, including those who were totally secular or who may even have converted to Christianity, were targeted, as a member of an ethnic group rather than practitioners of a particular religion. Thus, memorials and sites for the holocaust (for which there is already a category in any case), would be excluded.
The struggle for religious freedom is also frequently concomitant with other independence movements or fights for civil rights. Religious leaders are often at the forefront of these causes. Well-known modern examples are Nelson Mandella and Martin Luther King, Jr. Although King was a Christian minister, and his involvement in the civil rights movement in the United States was largely informed by his religious faith, he fell to an assassin's bullet, not primarily as a religious martyr but as a civil rights activist. In some places around the world, religious freedom is still not recognized as a civil right. Thus, memorials and sites for these individuals, as examples, would be excluded.
So, there is an element of interpretation, in some cases, pertaining to the qualification of any particular site as to its relevance to religious freedom. We will strive to be more inclusive than exclusive, however. If in serious doubt, please contact the group leader or one of the officers for an opinion in order to avoid disappointment.
EXAMPLES
Mary Dyer who was executed on the Boston Common for professing her faith as a Quaker
The First Christian Martyrs in Korea - Yun Chi-chung and Kwon Sang-yon