RFI President Tom Farr recently authored an article published in RealClearReligion titled, “The Crises Awaiting the New Ambassador for International Religious Freedom.” In the article, Farr praises the Senate’s recent confirmation of Rashad Hussain as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. 

“[R]eligious freedom has become contested ground in [America’s] culture wars and fallen victim to the growing polarization that threatens America’s vitality,” Farr writes. Nevertheless, Farr argues, Hussain’s nomination by the Biden Administration and bipartisan confirmation in the Senate signal that “America will lead in advancing religious freedom, both as an end in itself and as a means of addressing global instability and terrorism.”

Farr highlights Hussain’s extensive qualifications for the job and points to his deep faith as a practicing, believing Muslim. He urges Ambassador Hussain to turn his attention to some of the most pressing threats to religious freedom around the globe: “China’s savage religious persecution,” directed especially at the Uyghurs; “The war on Christians in Nigeria by Islamists and Fulani bandits”; and “The growing threat of ethnic and religious conflict in Bosnia.” Farr continues:

Like religious freedom itself, none of these should be partisan issues. Nor are they peripheral. They illustrate that the violation of religious freedom is not only an affront to human dignity, but a threat to civilization itself.

Read the full article: The Crises Awaiting the New Ambassador for International Religious Freedom.