Care about religious freedom worldwide? One of the candidates would be a disaster.
This opinion piece is by Judd Birdsall, who served in the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom under President George W. Bush and President Obama.
Chinese Christians drive in Guiyang, in China’s southwestern Guizhou province. (Emily Rauhala/The Washington Post)
By Judd Birdsall
November 7 at 11:56 AM
This presidential election has been fraught with fights over faith. Donald Trump’s critics have accused him of dabbling in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and pandering to white Christian identity politics. Hillary Clinton and her team have been accused of anti-Catholicism and seeking to silence the conscience of anyone who disagrees with her progressive social agenda.
Many religious voters fear what a Trump or Clinton presidency signals for their freedom of religion — and for people of faith abroad.
Whoever wins the presidency, a religiously polarized America will continue to grapple with contentious political debates and legal battles over the role of religion.
But what about beyond America’s shores? The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, signed by President Bill Clinton, enshrined combating persecution and promoting religious freedom for all people everywhere as core U.S. foreign policy objectives. And the act lists specific responsibilities for the president.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/11/07/care-about-religious-freedom-worldwide-one-of-the-candidates-would-be-a-disaster/
