Arab Spring Has Exposed Religious Intolerance in Mideast, Clinton Says

The popular revolts against longtime dictators in the Middle East and North Africa may have given hope to millions of Arabs, but the State Department's annual International Religious Freedom Report found that the uprisings have exposed ethnic and religious minorities to new dangers.

Growing religious intolerance, Clinton warned, threatened to undermine these fragile democratic transitions.

"People have been killed by their own neighbors because of their ethnicity or faith. In other places, we have seen governments stand by while sectarian violence inflamed by religious animosities tears communities apart."

Urging nations in the region to embrace the freedom to worship for all faiths as they embrace political pluralism for the first time in generations, Clinton warned them not to "trade one form of repression for another."

In particular, the report, which reviewed religious liberties in 198 countries, singled out Egypt, where there have been clashes between Muslims and Christians and there been several attacks against Copts. The U.S. called on the military government to pass laws protecting all religions. It also noted significant problems in Iraq, where religious minorities and Shiite pilgrims have been the targets of devastating attacks.

Clinton noted Monday's attack by gunmen on Shiite pilgrims in Iraq, calling it a "hateful, senseless" act that had "no aim other than to undermine the fabric of peaceful society."

Elsewhere in the region, the U.S. has expressed concern about treatment of ethnic minorities in Libya and sectarian violence in Syria.