[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16673-16674]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 THE GLOBAL CRISIS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 27, 2015

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, the world is experiencing a 
crisis of international religious freedom that poses a direct challenge 
to U.S. interests in the Middle East, Central and East Asia, Russia, 
China, and sub-Saharan Africa. In large parts of the world, this 
fundamental freedom is constantly and brutally under siege. The 
worldwide erosion of respect for this fundamental freedom is the cause 
of widespread human suffering, grave injustices, refugee flows, and 
significant threats to peace and stability.
  This Congress has heard the cries of Iraqi and Syrian Christians who 
face the threat of extinction, slavery, and death. We have heard about 
the plight of Rohingya Muslims, who face attacks and such unimaginable 
discrimination from hard-line Buddhist groups that many chose slavery 
elsewhere than life in Burma. We have heard about the persecution faced 
by Chinese Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims, and Falun 
Gong at the hands of a Communist Party suspicious of organized 
religion. And, many of us on this subcommittee have seen firsthand the 
religious dividing lines in sub-Saharan Africa that are the cause of so 
much death and destruction.
  In a world where some people are willing to kill those whose beliefs 
differ from theirs, where anti-Semitism persists even in the most 
tolerant of places, and where authoritarian governments view strong 
religious faith as a potential threat to their legitimacy, it is more 
important than ever that the U.S. engage in robust religious freedom 
diplomacy. One that uses all the tools available is the landmark 
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
  The stakes are too high and the suffering too great to downplay 
religious freedom as a priority of U.S. foreign policy. But 
unfortunately, we often hear from religious groups globally and from 
NGOs working on the issue that this Administration has sidelined the 
promotion of religious freedom.
  This criticism does not discount the work done by our men and women 
at the State Department and the efforts of Ambassador Saperstein 
himself. They do important and substantive work, but it seems too often 
that the issue is marginalized and isolated from issues of national 
security or economic development--even though we know from academic 
research that countries with the highest levels of religious freedom 
experience more prosperity and less terrorism.
  Religious persecution has catastrophic consequences for religious 
communities and for individual victims. But it also undermines the 
national security of the United States. Without religious freedom, 
aspiring democracies will continue to face instability. Sustained 
economic growth will be more difficult to achieve.

[[Page 16674]]

Obstructions will remain to the advancement of the rights of women and 
girls. And, perhaps most urgent of all, religious terrorism will 
continue to be nourished and exported.
  The global religious freedom crisis will not disappear anytime soon. 
According to the non-partisan Pew Research Center, 75% of the world's 
populations live in countries where severe religious persecution occurs 
regularly.
  It has been almost 17 years since the passage of the International 
Religious Freedom Act of 1998. Religious freedom diplomacy has 
developed under three administrations of both parties. Unfortunately, 
the grim global realities demonstrate that our nation has had little 
effect on the rise of persecution and the decline of religious freedom.
  It is worth asking why.
  It is worth asking not only what the State Department is doing, but 
what can be done better? Are new tools or new ideas needed to help U.S. 
religious freedom diplomacy address one of the great crises of the 21st 
century? Does the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 need to 
be upgraded to reflect 21st century realities?
  That is why I introduced the Frank Wolf International Religious 
Freedom Act of 2015 (H.R. 1150). This legislation, named after the 
author of the original IRFA Act, my good friend former Congressman 
Frank Wolf, would, among other things, strengthen the role of the 
Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom and the IRF office at State 
and give more tools to the Administration to address the crisis we 
face. The bill is roundly endorsed and supported by a broad, diverse 
array of religious freedom, civil society and diaspora organizations. 
They acknowledge what too many policymakers and administrations, 
Republican and Democrat alike, have been unable to appreciate--
America's first freedom ought to be infused, at every possible level, 
into our foreign policy.
  Upgrading and strengthening U.S. international religious freedom 
policy--and further integrating it into U.S. foreign policy and 
national security strategy--will send the clear message that the U.S. 
will fight for the inherent dignity of every human being and against 
the global problem of persecution, religious extremism, and terrorism. 
In so doing, we can advance the best of our values while protecting 
vital national interests.

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