RFI President Thomas Farr recently joined The Weekend Answer radio show to offer his perspective on the meaning and significance of last month’s Second Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom.

The whole point of this [Ministerial] is to build international consensus about what began as a uniquely American idea back in the late 1990s…That is, religious freedom is good for everybody — not just Christians, not just Jews or Muslims, not just religious people — it is good for everybody.

Farr then highlighted some of the countries where religious freedom remains highly restricted, such as China and Iraq, among many others.

Near the end of the interview, Farr remarked on the strategic value of protecting religious freedom:

The point we [RFI] are trying to make is that religious freedom can help you achieve your own aims. Religious freedom is stabilizing, it undermines religious violence, it is good for the economy, and it is good for social harmony – that’s something the Chinese want. We want to get the western democracies…to make these points in their own foreign policies.

Listen to the full interview below: