[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 195 (Tuesday, November 17, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7030-S7031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Religious Freedom
Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, in my neighborhood and my community,
you can walk down the street and visit with some really great
neighbors--Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus. They all live in the same
neighborhood and are friends.
My kids are grown now. We watched all our kids playing together in
the community and in the neighborhood. We can see just from this one
community and just from this one neighborhood this beautiful thing our
Founding Fathers dreamed of--the right of every individual to be able
to choose a faith of their own decision, to be able to live that faith
out, to be able to change that faith if they choose to, or to be able
to have no faith at all.
There are plenty of people in my neighborhood that I have no idea
what faith they have. They don't have to post it. They don't have to
print it. They don't have to say it because they are an American. They
don't have to be a certain faith or be able to maintain that faith.
The Declaration of Independence makes known that every person has the
right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our Constitution
protects our right to a free press, to speak, to assemble, to petition
the government, and to have any faith we choose and to be able to live
that faith without fear that the government is going to impose a faith
on them.
Our founding government documents explicitly state these rights. We
know that, inherently, these rights should be for all people. As such,
I believe it is the responsibility of every American not just to
cherish the freedoms that we have but to also be able to state those
freedoms worldwide and to be able to encourage people worldwide to also
live those basic human rights and dignities.
The Trump administration is heavily focused on sharing these ideals
with the world. In fact, right now, Poland is hosting the Third
Ministerial to Advance Freedom of Religion or Belief Alliance. The
United States has hosted the first two of those. In fact, I was a
participant in the second one, and I was a participant online with the
third one that was just in process.
It was implemented with the help of Secretary Pompeo and Ambassador-
at-large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback. It brought
people of all faiths and of all countries together who choose to
discuss religious liberty.
This year's ministerial definitely looks very different based on
COVID worldwide and its restrictions, but it is remarkable to see
Foreign Ministers from all over the world, many from countries that
don't practice religious liberty, in the middle of a conversation about
religious liberty.
Eighty percent of the world's population live where religious freedom
is threatened or denied, which puts an extra obligation on those of us
who live in freedom to be able to display that freedom to people
worldwide. We should condemn religious persecution and work to ensure
that all people have the freedom of faith, to live their faith, to
change their faith, or to have no faith at all.
In addition to the ministerial, I am really encouraged by the growing
support of the International Freedom Alliance, which has a membership
now of 32 countries. They are dedicated to advancing this basic right
of religious freedoms. Not only are we seeing countries gathering in
this ministerial to discuss religious liberty, many from countries that
don't allow religious liberty, but we now have 32 countries that are
dedicating together to say: We do practice religious liberty in our
country, and we want to spread that.
The alliance of these 32 countries, which we are a part of, has two
core functions; the first of which is to enhance global advocacy to
protect the right of freedom of religion or belief for all and to hold
all accountable to those who violate that freedom of religion or
belief; and the second thing is to serve as a platform to better
coordinate the efforts of governments, parliamentarians, and civil
societies to advance this right.
I hope this alliance continues to grow and continues to have gaining
influence on the world's stage. I hope they continue to condemn bad
actors who facilitate or condone discrimination
[[Page S7031]]
and violence toward people of faith, while encouraging leaders to
protect the rights of their religious communities and neighbors.
The United States has a strong history and commitment to religious
freedom, but some throughout the world do not have that privilege. One-
third of the world's countries have laws that prohibit expression
deemed as blasphemous, heretical, apostate, or insulting to religion.
Depending on the country, punishment for individuals who participate
in this type of expression that they call blasphemy range from fines to
imprisonment, to even the death sentence in places like Pakistan.
These laws affect Christians, Muslims, Hindus, secularists, and all
other groups. They scare people into hiding because of their faith.
They punish people for changing their faith, and they remove the most
basic dignity of the individual: the right to believe.
We should continue to expose those who take away that basic human
freedom. That is who we are as Americans. That is what we stand for
worldwide.
The independent and nonpartisan U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom has identified 84 countries that still have blasphemy
laws on the books. That is why I joined Senator Coons in cosponsoring
the bipartisan resolution to condemn blasphemy and apostasy laws
around the world and called for the release of individuals who have
been prosecuted or imprisoned for charges of blasphemy.
That proposal is ready to go and ready to be passed and has cleared
everyone on the Republican side of the aisle and most everyone on the
Democratic side of the aisle.
To ensure that religious liberty is a core pillar of our engagement
with other countries, the President issued an Executive order on
Advancing International Religious Freedom--the first of its kind. It is
a recommitment of the United States to protecting the freedom to live
out your faith, regardless of where you live.
Under this order, the United States places an even greater
prioritization on religious freedom with our foreign assistance
programs of the Department of State and with USAID.
It is interesting, in addition to religious liberty, this
administration has also partnered with other countries to protect and
uphold the sanctity of human life, while prioritizing the rights and
safety of women worldwide.
Last month, the administration, along with the Governments of Brazil,
Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, and Uganda, led a coalition of more than 30
government leaders representing 1.6 billion people from every part of
the planet to sign the Geneva Consensus Declaration. The declaration
reaffirms that ``all are created equal before the law'' and that the
``human rights of women are an inalienable, integral, and indivisible
part of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.''
This historic document also strengthens our international commitment
to the protection of the most basic human right, ``the inherent
`dignity and worth of the human person,' that `every human being has
the right to life.' '' It seems like that would be just a natural thing
to say. It seems like that would be apparent, that we as a nation and
that people around the world would recognize this most basic right of
an individual to live.
We believe in the right for people to be able to practice whatever
faith they choose. We should at least agree before they choose whatever
faith they are that they are allowed to live at all.
This document that was signed by the Governments of the United
States, Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, and Uganda has the simple
statement, along with multiple others. It says: We ``[r]eaffirm the
inherent `dignity and worth of the human person,' that `every human
being has the inherent right to life,' and the commitment `to enable
women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples
with the best chance of having a healthy infant.' ''
I am proud of this administration and the 1.6 billion people who are
represented by the other governments that have joined into this simple
declaration to protect the rights of women, to stand up for the equal
rights of those women, and to be able to stand up for the rights of
every single child. The historic document strengthens our international
commitment to this basic right.
This is a critical tool for the United States and like-minded
countries to preserve equal rights for all families, for all
individuals in every society. It has four pillars: better health for
women, preservation of human life, strengthening of the family as the
foundational unit of society, and protecting every nation's national
sovereignty in global politics.
As I have said on this floor before, abortion takes a life; it
doesn't preserve it. It is not a right, and we as a nation should not
promote an action to the rest of the world that is antithetical to the
most basic of all human rights--the right to live, to make your own
decisions.
I am encouraged that we are partnering with other like-minded
nations, that there are people all over the world who are standing up
for the rights of women to have equality, the rights to be able to
protect human life, to strengthen families, and the rights to be able
to protect national sovereignty--something we should be able to stand
up for.
In the days ahead, I pray we continue to stand up for that because
every individual should have the right to live as they live, have the
right to be able to have whatever faith they choose to have--to have
that faith, live that faith, change that faith, or to have no faith at
all.
But they don't even get to choose that if they are not even allowed
to live first. That is something I would hope that we, as Americans,
could also stand for.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.