JORDAN: POSITIVE REACTION TO INTL. RELIGIOUS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 002452

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2012
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF PREL JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN: POSITIVE REACTION TO INTL. RELIGIOUS
FREEDOM REPORT

REF: A. AMMAN 2385

B. AMMAN 2227

C. AMMAN 2018

D. AMMAN 1115

E. AMMAN 990

F. AMMAN 569

Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft for reasons 1.4 (b) and (
d).


1. (C) Summary: Jordan's religious minorities are pleased
with the content of the 2009 International Religious Freedom
(IRF) Report and believe that it accurately depicts the level
of religious freedom in Jordan. Minority groups were happy
that a relative lack of gross religious freedom violations
during the reporting period meant that the report focused on
underlying and systemic obstacles to further religious
freedom. The government lauded the report in the media
claiming that it shows that Jordan is a model for
coexistence. However, an inter-ministerial human rights
committee will formally review the report and issue an
official response. The media largely focused on accolades
given to Jordan's inter-faith dialogue efforts and positive
aspects in the report, though many articles did mention
restrictions to religious freedom. Some Christian contacts
would like the report to place more emphasis on education as
they believe Jordanian youth are becoming less tolerant and
less moderate. They believe the government has been
unwilling or unable to address problematic curriculum and
"fanatical" teachers. Post is using the report as another
tool in on-going efforts to press the government for
improvements in religious freedom, especially for
unrecognized groups, and for further education reform. End
Summary.

Christian Denominations, Baha'i Pleased
--------------


2. (SBU) Post contacts from a range of Christian
denominations, as well as the Baha'i, were pleased with the
report's content and believed that it accurately highlighted
the religious freedom situation in Jordan. While many
acknowledged that the 2009 report did not offer anything
"new," they agreed that the past year was "quiet" in terms of
gross religious freedom violations, with very few instances
of apostasy cases, official harassment, or church closures.
There was also wide agreement on many of the religious
freedom problems identified in the report, such as
application of Shari'a law and lack of recognition for some
churches and other religions.


3. (C) Most Evangelical church leaders also expressed relief
at this year's report. (Note: A couple more vocal
Evangelical church leaders did privately tell Poloffs that
the report should have been stronger on the right to
proselytize and convert but did find it accurate. End Note)
They had feared that it could have rekindled intra-Christian
strife that occurred after the government expelled thirty
evangelicals in late 2007 and early 2008 and the subsequent
Council of Church Leaders' public statement backing the
government's expulsions. Their focus over the past year has
been to mend fences with the government and Council of Church
leaders. (Note: The Council of Church Leaders is now
comprised of ten of the eleven recognized Christian
denominations and is consulted by the government when
determining which Christian denominations should receive
recognition. Evangelical denominations are not recognized but
are registered as societies. End Note). Evangelical church
leaders are also trying to project a positive image for their
denominations' role in Jordanian society instead of vocally
highlighting "negative" religious freedom issues. The hope
is that this conciliatory approach will lead to official
recognition for evangelicals. The positive general reaction
to the report and focus on underlying systemic religious
freedom issues meant that traditional churches, such as the
Orthodox and Roman Catholic, did not blame evangelical
denominations for overly influencing the report's content and
"tarnishing" the image of Jordanian Christians.

Government and Media Focus on the Positives
--------------


4. (C) The government's public response to the report solely
highlighted Jordan's inter-faith work. Minister of State for
Media Affairs and Communication Nabil Al-Sharif told
reporters the government was pleased with the report's
content, calling Jordan "a model for coexistence between
religions." Dr. Manal Mazareh, Deputy Director of the
Ministry of Foreign Affair's (MFA) Human Rights Office,
admitted to Poloffs on November 1 that there are religious
freedom issues that must be addressed, specifically
mentioning the treatment of the Baha'i. Though she would not

AMMAN 00002452 002 OF 003


comment on what, if any, specific actions would be taken to
improve religious freedom, Mazareh stated the report will be
formally discussed by the inter-ministerial human rights
groups led by the MFA and an official response prepared.
(Note: The Government of Jordan has traditionally issued a
private, detailed response to USG human rights reports. A
response to the 2008 Human Rights Report was just recently
received by Post. End Note)


5. (SBU) In response to an Embassy Amman press announcement
about the report's release, most daily newspapers' coverage
placed an emphasis on Secretary Clinton's praise of Jordan's
inter-faith efforts and the "good" relationship between
Christians and Muslims. While headlines and articles led
with positive aspects of the report and cited a high-level of
religious freedom, some problem areas were also mentioned,
such as continued official discrimination of minority
religious groups. On-line news sites also covered the report
with two prominent sites posting translations. Ammannet.net,
an independent radio and on-line news site, translated the
entire report while Ammun News, an independent site covering
domestic issues, posted excerpts from each section of the
report. As in past years, there were a couple editorials in
the mainstream media criticizing the U.S. for judging other
countries when its own record, especially related to Israel,
is problematic.

More on Education Needed to Promote Tolerance Among Youth
-------------- --------------


6. (C) Some Christian contacts thought more emphasis should
be placed on education. The main problem, in their view, is
not related to their right to worship, the existence of
official discrimination, or restrictions on conversion and
proselytizing but what Jordan's youth is taught about
religion and mutual respect. Several contacts indicated that
the Royal Court and government are either unwilling or unable
to effectively promulgate the Amman Message and Common Word
initiatives, which respectively lay-out a moderate version of
Islam and mutual respect between religions, at the community
level and within the education system. Subject matter in
nearly all subjects, including social studies and Arabic
language and history, are reported to include both negative
stereotypes of other religions and non-moderate Islamic
teachings. One Evangelical contact, for example, stated that
the final high school exam (tawajii) for Islamic studies
included content that killing apostates and adulterers is
permissible. They also believe that public school teachers
are becoming less moderate and are leading to a more radical
and less tolerant citizenry. Father Khalil Jarrar of the
Catholic Church, for instance, stated that 67 percent of
public school teachers are "fanatics." Though Jarrar did not
indicate the source of this statistic, he and others cited
specific examples, such as one teacher ordering all unveiled
girls to sit at the back of the classroom. In short, some
Christian leaders state that they are viewing first-hand
deterioration in their "good" relationship with the Muslim
communities and an increasing less tolerant generation of
Jordanian society. Other Christian contacts have not painted
such a dire situation but are also concerned. Father Samer
Azer of the Lutheran Church, for instance, talked about their
good standing in the community and the many church activities
which include their Muslim neighbors. He too, however, is
concerned about youth mentality and agrees that more
inter-faith work must be done at the community level.


7. (C) Comment: With fewer gross religious freedom violations
over the past year, the 2009 report was considered less
controversial in nature than the 2008 report. The relative
lack of gross violations also meant that the 2009 report and
corresponding dialogue focused on underlying religious
freedom issues, many directly related to Jordan's legal
framework and institutions. While Post does not anticipate
any major structural changes in the foreseeable future, the
report has helped Post to continue a dialogue about
persistent problems and to discuss possible solutions. For
example, Post is:

--addressing existing legal discrimination, such as
difficulties in obtaining official documentation for
unrecognized religious groups.

--pushing to eliminate the religion designation from national
identification cards.

--encouraging the government to turn inter-faith dialogue
initiatives into tangible inter-faith partnerships at the
community level.

--discussing the need for continued education reform and to
focus on potentially harmful curriculum and teaching methods.


AMMAN 00002452 003 OF 003


End Comment.
Beecroft