Will The Senate Save The US Commission On International Religious Freedom?
Posted Sunday, November 13, 2011 in Persecuted Christians, Top Religion News
Full Article: Persecution
11/11/2011 United States (Christian Post) - Time is running out for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to take action on saving the American government's signature religious freedom agency.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom was launched in 1998 to focus on America's foreign policy concerning faith practices overseas. It has traditionally served as watchdog for religious persecution in other countries and advises the president, Congress and the State Department on strategies for halting it.
As reported by Doug Carlson of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the bipartisan commission is currently staring down a stoppage of its own. Since early fall, the interfaith group has lingered in limbo between life and death.
USCIRF's governing mandate was initially set for expiration in September, only to receive salvation from an overall government resolution on the budget that extended its shelf-life two months. Now nearing its Nov. 18 finish line, USCIRF has received House approval but lingers in a Senate seemingly disinterested in supporting it.
"People should be free to worship or not worship God to the dictates of their own conscience," said Dr. Barrett Duke, ERLC's vice president for public policy and research. "Losing USCIRF would send a bad signal to some of the world's worst violators of religious freedom."
Duke said USCIRF's mandate renewal had stumbled in the Senate Committee given its part in a larger bill. As such, he said other portions of the bill placed it in jeopardy. Calls and emails to the committee were not returned by press time.
Ryan Morgan, International Christian Concern's advocacy officer, said if USCIRF went under it would severely hamper the efforts of his organization and others like it. USCIRF's government role, he said, gives it a unique advantage in advancing religious liberty at home and abroad.
"If religious freedom isn't important in America, it won't be important elsewhere either," Morgan said. "People around the world watch us for a double-standard. Our influence does affect other countries' domestic policies."
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