Freedom of Religion

            The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns the need to protect and preserve religious freedom around the world. The United States has some of the greatest freedom of religious in the world, but there are constant attempts to chip away at it. The freedom to worship as one chooses is threatened in numerous countries with religious groups being targeted.

            Members of the staff at the Deseret News has been discussing world-wide religious freedom and researching ways to stop religious persecution. In an article titled “6 Things you need to know about America’s international religious Freedom efforts,” Kelsey Dallas lists what she considers to be some “key takeaways.” 

2. Religious freedom is threatened around the world.

Seventy years ago, world leaders declared that religious freedom was a universal human right….

More than 80 percent of the world’s population lives under “high or very high” religious restrictions, according to Pew Research Center. This figure is rising even as efforts to address it increase.

2. The U.S. is religious freedom’s most prominent cheerleader.

Twenty years ago, American leaders decided that something had to change. Congress passed the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, adopting a more thorough approach to tracking and responding to religious persecution around the world.

The legislation created the role of ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, an office dedicated to international religious freedom at the State Department and the independent, bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom….

3. Thorough reports aren’t enough.

The legislation was significant, but the government’s religious freedom efforts are still less than idea, according to former State Department officials.

Diplomats fail to reach out to religious communities. Potential sanctions on countries that limit religious practice are waived. Religious freedom advocates don’t have enough power to push meaningful change….

4. Sam Brownback is fighting for a more effective approach.

Sam Brownback, who previously served as governor of Kansas and a senator for the state, is the first former congressman to hold the ambassador role. His supporters say he has the political savvy to enter the State Department’s “slow-motion train wreck” and make a difference.

Since taking office 15 months ago, he’s traveled the world to meet with victims of religious persecution and some of the people who’ve harmed them….

5. But there are limits to Brownback’s power.

Brownback’s high-profile meetings and statements condemning attacks on people of faith are important, but they still rarely lead to meaningful policy action.

He, like other ambassadors, is at the mercy of his superiors. It’s up to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the White House to decide which countries face sanctions and when religious persecution should be considered genocide.

6. Religious freedom advocates are worried about what the future holds.

Still, many religious freedom advocates say Brownback is making a notable difference for people of all faiths and no faith around the world. He is building an international coalition to promote religious freedom.      

                                                                           

            It is good that we now have a President who seems to value religion and religious values and judges and justices who are willing to push back at the demands to curtail religious rights. We know that the world will continue to grow more wicked, so we need to protect and preserve all the freedoms that we can.