Trump and the Politics of International Religious Freedom
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. From Advocacy to Law: The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
- The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000): The Act targeted international crime syndicates who sent children and women, mainly from the Global South, into prostitution and sweatshops in many parts of the world (Lobasz 2019).
- The Sudan Peace Act (2002): Christian evangelicals championed the Act, outraged by Sudan’s Islamist government’s persecution of southern Sudanese Christians and animists. The Act and its accompanying sanctions were influential in helping to develop the road map for Sudan’s ceasefire (2003) and subsequent peace treaty (2004) (Srinivasan 2014).
- The North Korea Human Rights Act (2004): Christian evangelicals and Korean Americans strongly lobbied for this Act. It encouraged the Bush administration both to aid North Korean defectors and to draw attention to its government’s egregious human rights violations and nuclear weapons programme (Chang 2006).
1.2. The Trump Administration and Judeo-Christian Values and Beliefs
Religious freedom, America’s first freedom, is a moral and national security imperative. Religious freedom for all people worldwide is a foreign policy priority of the United States, and the United States will respect and vigorously promote this freedom. As stated in the 2017 National Security Strategy, our Founders understood religious freedom not as a creation of the state, but as a gift of God to every person and a right that is fundamental for the flourishing of our society. (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/06/05/2020-12430/advancing-international-religious-freedom).
Listen to any religious-right pundit discuss the intersection of governing and faith, and you’ll likely hear them refer to Judeo-Christian values. Take Focus on the Family (FOTF), for example, a fundamentalist Christian advocacy organization with a public policy approach self-described as ‘drawn from the wisdom of the Bible and the Judeo-Christian ethic’. Under this guise of Judeo-Christian values, FOTF opposes same-sex marriage and LGBTQ equality, staunchly lobbies against abortion and reproductive freedom, and promotes creationism and abstinence-only sex education.
- The Office of International Religious Freedom (OIRF), established in 1998 by the IRFA and controlled by the State Department.
- The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), established in 1998 by the IRFA and independent of the State Department.
- The Ministerial on Religious Freedom, an annual event, established in 2018 by Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.
- The Commission on Unalienable Rights, established in 2019 by Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.
- The International Religious Freedom Alliance, established in 2020 by Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.
1.3. The Office of International Religious Freedom and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
1.4. Additions to International Religious Freedom Policy during the Trump Administration
2. The Commission on Unalienable Rights
USCIRF is very pleased that the State Department is continuing to make human rights an integral part of U.S. foreign policy and relations. We applaud the creation of this Commission as another way of ensuring that the protection of these fundamental rights—the most foundational of which is freedom of religion or belief—is a core element of strategic policy discussions.
- ‘demonstrate skepticism toward human rights treaties and institutions;
- assert the dubious claim that there are (sic.) a proliferation of human rights; and
- advance the idea that human rights are in need of prioritization or being placed into a hierarchy, conceivably with freedom of religion trumping other rights.’ (Huckerby and Knuckey 2020).
3. The Annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom
Our nation is so special and it’s the greatest nation in the history of civilization. … Our diplomats all around the world can be incredibly proud of the fact that they represent a nation that has God-given rights ensconced in our fundamental founding documents….
We’ve talked about religious freedom. We want to make sure every country has the understanding how central that is to their nation’s success and how they shouldn’t let a bureaucrat somewhere sitting in an international organization interfere with their country’s sovereign desire to allow their citizens to practice their—to practice religious freedom.
The Trump administration recognizes that religious freedom is a fundamental American liberty, and this has been clear from the administration’s earliest days and indeed the earliest days of our nation.The United States advances religious freedom in our foreign policy because it is not exclusively an American right. It is a God-given universal right bestowed on all of mankind. Seventy years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed this when 48 nations declared that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.”.
4. The International Religious Freedom Alliance
And the people of the United States should know that the world looks to us as a beacon. They know that this is a special place. They know that God gave us this set of rights and our founders set this course in motion for this great experiment….
5. Conclusions
Trump hopes by shouting “Religious Freedom for All,” his political base will mistake the high decibel level for effectiveness. The gap between the rhetoric and the record is real. Only a new administration can bring any change.
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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1 | IRFA aims ‘To condemn violations of religious freedom, and to promote, and to assist other governments in the promotion of, the fundamental right to freedom of religion.’ (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title22/chapter73&edition=prelim). |
2 | Roosevelt served as First Lady of the United States from 4 March 1933 to 12 April 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms in office. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States. Roosevelt was chair of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, instrumental in the creation of the UDHR. Roosevelt was a lifelong Protestant Christian, a member of the Episcopalian church, and regularly attended church services (Glendon 2010). |
3 | In 1999, Tom Farr became the first director of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom. Currently (July 2020), he is president of the Religious Freedom Institute, an NGO working to achieve worldwide acceptance of religious freedom. |
4 | Martin Castro, appointed by President Obama to chair the US Commission on Civil Rights, writes that religious freedom is often used as a “code word” for “discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia,” and “Christian supremacy” (Peaceful Coexistence 2016, p. 30). |
5 | ‘Jews for a Secular Democracy is a pluralistic initiative of the Society for Humanistic Judaism’ (https://jfasd.org/2019/10/why-judeo-christian-values-are-problematic/). |
6 | James Dobson, founder and head of Focus on the Family, is a strong supporter of President Trump (Dobson 2019). Dobson is also a friend and ideological ally of Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. See Dobson’s 2020 interview with Pompeo at https://www.state.gov/secretary-michael-r-pompeo-with-dr-james-dobson-of-family-talk-with-james-dobson/ We refer to this interview in the conclusion of this article. |
7 | The American Enterprise Institute describes itself as: “a public policy think tank dedicated to defending human dignity, expanding human potential, and building a freer and safer world”. (https://www.aei.org/about/). |
8 | For details, see USCIRF’s annual reports at: https://www.uscirf.gov/reports-briefs/annual-report). |
9 | In addition, there was the Office of Religion and Global Affairs (RGA), established in 2013 during the Obama presidency. In August 2017, the then Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, announced that the RGA was to be absorbed into the OIRF. (Bettiza 2019, p. 224). |
10 | At the time of writing (July 2020), the Commission comprised eight commissioners, following the resignations of former chair Tenzin Dorjee (May 2020), Kristina Arriaga de Bucholz (November 2019) and Andy Khawaja (December 2019). Details of USCIRF commissioners at https://www.uscirf.gov/about-uscirf/commissioners. |
11 | Perkins claims that pedophilia is a ‘homosexual problem’ and LGBTQ activists want to ‘destroy’ America (Tony Perkins n.d.). The then vice-chair of USCIR, Gayle Manchin, was elected chair of USCIRF by her fellow commissioners in June 2020, replacing Perkins. Perkins was elected as a vice-chair, as was Anurima Bhargava. The term of office for Manchin, Perkins and Bhargava was June 2020 to June 2021. |
12 | According to McAlister (2019, fn. 1), ‘Brownback’s nomination to the Ambassador position was fiercely contested by LGBTQ groups and he was only approved when VP Pence cast a tie-breaking vote. |
13 | Casey is currently (July 2020) Director of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University. |
14 | According to Rutten (2010), Glendon is a ‘conservative Catholic… who refused to accept an award from Notre Dame [University] because it invited President Obama to speak at its commencement’. (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-mar-31-la-oe-rutten31-2010mar31-story.html). Glendon garnered controversy for statements like The Boston Globe’s receiving the Pulitzer Prize for its investigation into child abuse by priests “would be like giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Osama bin Laden.” (Verma 2020). |
15 | Swett was USCIRF chair, 2012–2016. |
16 | According to Equity Forward, a human rights advocacy group, ‘Soloveichik is an orthodox rabbi and professor of Judaic studies at Yeshiva University. He has ties to influential anti-abortion and anti-birth control groups including the Becket Fund for religious Liberty and the Witherspoon Institute. Soloveichik has repeatedly argued against Affordable Health Care Act’s birth control benefit and opposes marriage same-sex couples [and] individuals’ (https://equityfwd.org/meir-soloveichik). |
17 | Professor Mary Ann Glendon, Dr Jacqueline Rivers, and Dr Katrina Lantos Swett. |
18 | Dr. David Tse-Chien Pan, Professor of German at the University of California, Irvine and Dr. Jacqueline Rivers, Lecturer in Sociology at Harvard University. Rivers believes that ‘marriage is a gift from God’ and that ‘sexual partnerships between persons of the same sex are being legally recognized as “marriages,” thus abolishing in law the principle of marriage as a conjugal union and reducing it to nothing other than sexual or romantic companionship’. (https://insidethevatican.com/magazine/people/eugene-jacqueline-rivers-scholar-protestant-minister/). |
19 | The Commission’s draft report was released on 16 July 2020. It is available at https://www.state.gov/draft-report-of-the-commission-on-unalienable-rights/. |
20 | ‘At RealClearPolitics (RCP) we’re dedicated to providing our readers with better, more insightful analysis of the most important news and policy issues of the day. RCP’s daily editorial curation and original reporting present balanced, non-partisan analysis that empowers our readers to stay informed’ (https://www.realclearpolitics.com/about.html). |
21 | The Declaration of Independence refers to “unalienable rights” with which people “are endowed by their Creator”. |
22 | A letter, critical of the Commission, and signed by 167 human rights groups, was published in May 2020. They wrote ‘to express [their] grave concern about the work of the U.S. State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights and any potential report or output that undermines the international human rights system and purports to reinterpret its respective treaties and monitoring bodies’. Letter available at https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/supporting_resources/050120_lettertocour_crr_hrw_iwhc.pdf. Also see (Berschinksi and Wordern 2020). |
23 | |
24 | Founding members of IRFA: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, The Gambia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Togo, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States. |
25 | All member states are Christian, except: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, The Gambia, Israel, and Senegal. This suggests that criteria for membership are two-fold: religious affiliation and whether a country is a U.S. ally. |
26 | Despite Copson’s concern, however, neither Brazil, Hungary, or Poland are included in the 28 “countries of concern” in USCIRF’s 2019 (https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2019USCIRFAnnualReport.pdf). |
27 | Alliance members identified as having ongoing religious freedom issues in the State Department’s 2018 annual report are Hungary, led by a far-right government, and Austria (OIRF 2018). |
28 | “GAI seeks to measure the relative level of social acceptance of LGBT people and rights in each country at specific time periods”. “GRI assesses the level of restrictions on religion by governments around the world” (Grim 2020, p. 11). “SHI measures hostile acts by private individuals, organizations and social groups that restrict religious beliefs and practices” (https://www.pewforum.org/2011/08/09/rising-restrictions-on-religion4/). |
Country | Global Acceptance Index (GAI), 2014–2017 (Higher the Better) | Government Religious Restrictions Index (GRI), 2017 (Lower the Better) | Social Hostilities Index (SHI) (Lower the Better) |
---|---|---|---|
Albania | 3.5 | 1.6 | 0.1 |
Austria | 6.8 | 4.2 | 3.2 |
Bosnia & Herzegovina | 3.1 | 2.9 | 3.2 |
Brazil | 6.8 | 1.3 | 4.3 |
Bulgaria | 4.6 | 5.3 | 4.2 |
Colombia | 5.9 | 2.0 | 2.2 |
Croatia | 5.2 | 2.4 | 0.4 |
Czech Republic | 6.0 | 3.3 | 2.6 |
Estonia | 4.9 | 1.2 | 0.8 |
The Gambia | 3.4 | 0.7 | 3.0 |
Georgia | 2.7 | 3.5 | 3.1 |
Greece | 5.0 | 4.3 | 5.1 |
Hungary | 4.9 | 3.3 | 3.7 |
Israel | 5.4 | 5.5 | 7.3 |
Kosovo | 2.9 | 2.7 | 4.4 |
Latvia | 4.4 | 2.6 | 1.2 |
Lithuania | 4.1 | 2.5 | 0.6 |
Malta | 7.6 | 2.1 | 0.8 |
The Netherlands | 8.6 | 2.6 | 2.8 |
Poland | 4.8 | 2.9 | 2.2 |
Senegal | 1.7 | 1.2 | 1.0 |
Slovakia | 5 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
Slovenia | 5.9 | 2.6 | 0.2 |
Togo | 3.0 | 2.1 | 0.8 |
Ukraine | 3.3 | 3.8 | 7.1 |
United Kingdom | 7.7 | 2.6 | 6.8 |
United States | 7.2 | 3.3 | 4.4 |
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Haynes, J. Trump and the Politics of International Religious Freedom. Religions 2020, 11, 385. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11080385
Haynes J. Trump and the Politics of International Religious Freedom. Religions. 2020; 11(8):385. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11080385
Chicago/Turabian StyleHaynes, Jeffrey. 2020. "Trump and the Politics of International Religious Freedom" Religions 11, no. 8: 385. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11080385