# Isn't Islam a wonderful religion?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [January 31, 2026, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240 "2026-01-31T19:36:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 65

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/65 "2026-02-01T00:41:48Z")

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> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> What does “free” even mean in this context? Is the USA still a “free” country at the moment?

The universal declaration of human rights is a good starter on the traits of a liberal democracy.

> **[Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations](https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights)**
>
> A milestone document in the history of human rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. It has been translated into over 500 languages.

Here is info about how freedom house measures countries

> **[Freedom in the World Research Methodology](https://freedomhouse.org/reports/freedom-world/freedom-world-research-methodology)**
>
> Freedom in the World is an annual global report on political rights and civil liberties, composed of numerical ratings and descriptive texts for each country and a select group of territories.

> **[United States: Freedom in the World 2024 Country Report | Freedom House](https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-states/freedom-world/2024)**
>
> See the Freedom in the World 2024 score and learn about democracy and freedom in United States.

Is the US free? Yes. We currently score an 83/100. However, our score has been declining. We were at 94/100 in the year 2010. Then the GOP won congress, did a bunch of gerrymandering, Trump and MAGA came about, and we’ve dropped from 94 to 83. Our score will likely be even lower when the 2025 report comes out due to Trump’s weaponization of law enforcement and ignoring judges.

I think the cutoff between ‘free’ and ‘partly free’ may be around 68/100.

> **[United States: Freedom in the World 2024 Country Report | Freedom House](https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-states/freedom-world/2024)**
>
> See the Freedom in the World 2024 score and learn about democracy and freedom in United States.

> **[US sinks to new low in rankings of world's democracies](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/24/us-world-democracy-rankings-freedom-house-new-low)**
>
> The US has slipped 11 points in a decade – below Argentina and Mongolia – according the latest report by a democracy watchdog

> The US earned 83 out of 100 possible points this year in Freedom House’s [annual rankings](https://freedomhouse.org/reports/freedom-world/freedom-world-research-methodology) of freedoms around the world, an 11-point drop from its ranking of 94 a decade ago. The US’s new ranking places it on par with countries like Panama, Romania and Croatia and behind countries such as Argentina and Mongolia. It lagged far behind countries like the United Kingdom (93), Chile (93), Costa Rica (91) and Slovakia (90).

Out of 193 countries and territories, the US is currently #56. Finland is #1 with 100/100

> **[Freedom in the World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_in_the_World)**
>
> Freedom in the World is a yearly survey and report by the U.S.-based non-governmental organization Freedom House that measures the degree of civil liberties and political rights in every nation and significant related and disputed territories around the world.
> Critical assessments of the survey have highlighted potential biases stemming from its funding, methodology, ideological leanings and the subjective nature of the scoring. Freedom House has defended its ratings as independent and evide...

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