A decision by a country either to fund or not to fund education by religious groups can be consistent with religious freedom. The question is one of discrimination, that is, whether some groups are denied funds because of their beliefs while others are given funds. Many more examples clearly could be given of situations where answers to questions of religious freedom are by no means obvious. Religious freedom can be violated by a government or another religious group even if the violation is not itself for religious motives. If a government represses churches, mosques, and temples in the same way it represses political parties, newspapers, and other groups, simply because the government wants no other centers of loyalty or authority in the society, then this is still a violation of religious freedom.
China is officially atheist, and Iran is officially Islamic.
In Chiapas, Mexico, Protestants are persecuted by local caciques because they refuse to pay extortionate prices for goods to be used in religious ceremonies that they reject. In fact, outside of communist and radical Islamicist settings, it is comparatively rare for someone to be repressed merely for their individual confessional beliefs if these beliefs do not affect some other facet of life. It is usually the very interrelation that leads to persecution. Furthermore, religion is usually not merely an additional factor but is also intimately interwoven with other factors. Since religion refers to our ultimate beliefs, it is only to be expected that it is deeply connected to every other area of human life, a fact emphasized by nearly every religion in the world.