Making Religious Freedom Real
By Dr. Chris Seiple on 31 August 2007
It is difficult for most Americans to imagine a world without religious freedom. It is the essence of who we are—the capacity to respect another’s freedom of conscience. What we take as a commonplace right, however, is an unfulfilled need for millions around the world. This year hundreds of millions of people (including some 200 million Christians) will face hostility because of their desire to believe in something greater than themselves. With such huge numbers, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, to think that you can’t make a difference— but you can.Religious freedom is a simple idea that is complex to implement and sustain. Two practical necessities guide our efforts to make religious freedom real: education and engagement. Education without engagement is meaningless; engagement without education is dangerous. If we want to engage the most difficult places in the world, then we must be educated enough to understand those different cultures and countries. Better understanding leads to an engagement strategy of mutually respectful relationships with a country’s leaders (government) and its local faith groups (grassroots). This is why we are a “think tank with legs”—think before you do.
Below are some practical examples of IGE’s education and engagement in action. They are opportunities for you and your friends, family, work, and church to come alongside IGE with your prayers, financial support, and, perhaps, your own participation.
Education
Education begins with the space to discuss the critical religious and international issues of our day: religious freedom, terrorism, Israel-Palestine, etc. This space is not enough, however, as many leaders regard religion itself as part of the problem. IGE also believes that every faith community has a responsibility to challenge and equip its own members to become part of the solution.Council on Faith & International Affairs. IGE’s Center on Faith & International Affairs (CFIA) provides timely resources, conferences, and publications that inform today’s leaders about the role of religion in global issues. For example, this past December, CFIA worked with America’s best centers on religion and law—Emory University and Brigham Young University—as well as the University of Oslo and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to sponsor a conference on “Law and Religion in Transitional Societies” in Oslo, Norway. This conference is the second in a groundbreaking series that regularly convenes the world’s top religion and law scholars to talk about implementing religious freedom through laws and policies in countries around the globe.
Just two months ago, CFIA partnered with Kyrgyzstan’s Institute for Public Policy and the Carnegie Endowment to co-sponsor the first conference in Eurasian history on “New Views on Religion & Security in Central Asia,” including representatives from the U.S., Russia, and China, as well as Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan.
While initiatives like these help shape foreign policies around the world in the short-term, CFIA’s greatest opportunity for long-term impact is its flagship journal, The Review of Faith & International Affairs. The only journal of its kind, The Review works to demonstrate the positive impact of religion, challenging and changing the mindset of government and religious leaders worldwide by providing a multi-faith perspective on the toughest issues of our day. For example, the last edition of journal focused on torture. Next year, The Review will publish a series of theme issues on the hot topics in the U.S. presidential race, to include the Middle East, immigration and foreign policy.
Each issue of the journal costs $22,000 to publish—will you, or your work, consider sponsoring one issue of this one-of-a-kind publication?
Global Engagement Network. Regrettably, Christians sometimes have a negative impact on religious freedom and other international issues through their actions at home and abroad. Inappropriate public statements, simplistic political activism, and insensitive ministry methodologies can sometimes create unintended consequences for Christians worldwide. As a Christian organization, IGE has always felt a special call to equip the next generation of Christian leaders with international understanding and practical skills for more effective global service. We implement this call through the Global Engagement Network (GEN) and its virtual home: GlobalChristian.org. It’s more than a website; it’s an online sanctuary for Christians who are passionate about the world. Visitors can download free resources and podcast perspectives on almost any global issue, from the environment to human rights to foreign policy.
GEN also sponsors the annual Global Leadership Forum to inspire and equip Christians interested in global affairs. This year’s conference is from 21-22 September and features conversations with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; IGE founder Ambassador Robert Seiple; former USAID directors Andrew Natsios (now the U.S. envoy to Darfur) and Brady Anderson; as well as Hadia Mubarak and Ahmed Younis, two prominent Muslim leaders who will share their perspectives on evangelical engagement.
We also help develop the next generation of global leaders through our internship program in Washington. Each semester and summer, we train up four to six unpaid interns, work them hard, pray for them, and send them out to all kinds of global careers. Many of these interns have gone on to get advanced degrees at some of the best schools in the world. Others have taken jobs with Christian and non-Christian organizations in places like Kenya, Nepal, Iraq, and beyond. We are now transitioning this program to a stipend-based, year-long experience that includes international travel with IGE.
Will you or your church consider sponsoring a fellowship in your name at a cost of $12,000/year ($1,000/ month)?
Engagement
Against this backdrop of ongoing education, IGE’s engagement strategy of relational diplomacy works to promote religious freedom in the Communist and Muslim states of Asia.Vietnam. Six years of relational diplomacy in Vietnam have resulted in many positive changes. IGE’s work in Northwest Vietnam has resulted in 31 minority ethnic churches being registered for the first time. While there are still hundreds of applications awaiting government approval, this first step is critical to opening the door for greater freedom.
IGE has also worked to create a space where we can have practical effect through Vietnamese policymakers. For instance, last month IGE was the only nongovernmental organization to meet with the President of Vietnam during his historic first visit to Washington. IGE brought a small group of evangelical leaders to meet with President Triet and share our love and prayers for Vietnam. We also expressed our desire to assist Vietnam in: accelerating church registrations; training provincial-level government and religious leaders about Vietnam’s new religion ordinances; and educating Vietnamese pastors (which helps prevent the development of cults and anti-state ideologies within Christian churches).
Our most significant work, however, is the creation of a conference series to discuss religious freedom in Southeast Asia. Partnering with the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences, we helped gather scholars and lawmakers from twelve countries last September in Hanoi to talk about this sensitive issue. The participants, and especially the Vietnamese, were so enthusiastic about this event—it had never been done before in the history of the region—that they agreed to a second conference this November. These conferences create a public square where law- and policy-makers can safely talk about religion, culture, and law. Through their conversations, a new mindset takes hold, one that will lead to new policies and laws that appreciate the positive role that religious people can play in strengthening society.
We are $50,000 short of the total cost—will you consider a gift to support this conference?
Pakistan. Since 2004, IGE has been deepening a relationship with the political leader of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province, Akram Khan Durrani. Durrani was freely elected in October 2002 on a pro-Shari’a and anti-American platform in an area of the world that is home to both the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Nevertheless, he has proven personally committed to shared principles of religious freedom and justice, and has made some politically risky decisions as a result.
For example, just before Christmas, Durrani helped lay the cornerstone of a church at Peshawar University (an Islamic institution), contributing $50,000 of the government’s money to its refurbishment. This powerful public action contributed to the high court’s landmark decision to uphold the church’s right to exist in a region where new church construction is normally illegal. Then in April, Durrani convened the province’s leading theologians to condemn suicide bombings.
And in May, in partnership with IGE, he sponsored the province’s first interfaith conference on religion and peace. This conference featured presentations by leaders of the Sikh, Hindu, Christian, and Shia minorities, and was attended by 40 prominent Sunni imams from throughout the region. This kind of multi-faith dialogue has never been done before. Despite the recent political chaos in Pakistan, there is reason to hope in such leaders and initiatives.
With Durrani's support, IGE established the Global Engagement Fellows Program at the University of Science and Technology in Bannu (which borders volatile North Waziristan and Afghanistan) in 2006. The Fellows Program creates an alternative to the sectarian violence, poverty, and illiteracy that permeate the area through holistic education rooted in religious tolerance training. The program has a cohort of sixteen students (including seven women), all of whom are the first in their families to attend college. Amazingly, just last month, a donor pledged one year of funding for a second cohort to begin this fall.
Will you provide a scholarship in your name to sponsor a student for the next three years at a cost of $650/year ($55/ month)?
And would you consider helping to fund a Muslim World Program Officer at IGE to oversee our efforts in Pakistan, as well as several other exciting initiatives that are emerging in the Middle East ($45,000)?
Hundreds of millions will be persecuted this year. For them, religious freedom is a need, not the fundamental right it should be. Protecting and promoting that right is a complex process, demanding a comprehensive response defined by education and engagement. It is not easy, but through our relational diplomacy, IGE is uniquely positioned to have tangible and specific impact right now through the above initiatives. We can’t, however, do it without you. Please support IGE and our work to promote religious freedom around the world.
Last updated 02 April 2009