Religious freedom still a bipartisan cause, says US commission

‘With commissioners appointed by Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress as well as the President, that bipartisanship lends a legitimacy that transcends Washington’s toxic divisions.’

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urged the Trump administration to continue to emphasise the importance of religious freedom in its international diplomatic efforts.

Its annual report published last week called for the appointment of an ambassador-at-large for religious freedom, noting that previous ambassadors led “initiatives through the US Department of State to highlight and address religious freedom concerns around the world”. The post is currently vacant.

The commission is credited with overcoming divided ideologies and partisan loyalties to work together in common cause. “The unique strength of the commission lies in its bipartisanship,” the current USCIRF chair Stephen Schneck told The Tablet. “With commissioners appointed by Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress as well as the President, that bipartisanship lends a legitimacy to its work that transcends Washington’s otherwise toxic divisions.”

Schneck was a long-time politics professor at the Catholic University of America. The conservative legal scholar Robert P. George and the former editor of America Fr Thomas Reese SJ are among the other Catholics to have chaired the commission. 

USCIRF has enjoyed bipartisan support in Washington. The Democrats’ Nancy Pelosi, a former House Speaker, highlighted the importance of the commission’s work, saying: “Make no mistake, the freedom of worship is a bedrock human right. Indeed, it is a liberty that transcends borders and when it comes under threat, America has a sacred duty to speak out.”

Conservative Congressman Chris Smith also emphasised the urgency of USCIRF’s task. “There have been more Christians killed in Nigeria than any other place in the world because of their faith, Muslims are being killed as well. If they speak up, they will be slaughtered as well by the radical Islamists, who unfortunately are not being combated by the government,” he said.

Some recommendations in the annual report will be affected by the Trump administration’s shuttering of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).  

The report’s specific recommendations include the creation of a working group within USAID to engage with religious groups, and to provide funding through the agency alongside US embassies to support the protection and restoration of places of worship and the work of civil society groups monitoring religious freedom violations. It also recorded the importance of hundreds of millions of dollars in USAID funding in the implementation of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, under which the USCIRF operates.

Speaking in a personal capacity, Schneck told The Tablet that President Donald Trump’s first administration had been “very supportive” of the commission’s work but the effect of cuts to USAID on these programmes was “concerning”.

“The hope is that the administration will give [religious freedom] rights that same special attention that they received in the first Trump administration,” he said, “[and] that these actions reflect a pause and not a full stop for these critically important programmes”.

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