Lessons for Europe: The US and International Religious Freedom

Those pressing for the EU to pay greater attention to the issue of Christian persecution overseas often cite the US as a model of best practice. Reference is usually made to the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act which created, amongst other things, an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom based at the State Department.  

Obama and Johnson Cook

The following article from Christianity Today, a US online magazine for American evangelicals, explores the ongoing nomination of Revd Johnson Cook to this office and suggests a more complicated situation. Critics complain that the post seems to be under-resourced and under-valued by the State Department.

Whatever the credibility of these concerns, the State Department’s Annual Report to Congress on Religious Persecution and Discrimination World-Wide is a valuable resource for all those involved in this area of work. The report only makes sense, however, if it is read alongside the State Department’s Annual Human Rights Report.

Seen from this perspective, the EU appears to be following America’s lead by seeing religious freedom as a fundamental human right and human rights as core component of foreign policy. Whether the EU’s External Action Service develops the same elaborate machinery as the US State Department looks far from certain, but philosophically and methodologically at least there are striking similarities between the two approaches. This should give encouragement to many here in Europe.