Defenders of Religious Freedom Speak Out in Washington D.C.
- khwang562
- Feb 1, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 6
Washington D.C., United States – An array of human rights experts and religious freedom leaders told an audience in Washington, D.C. that religious freedom requires constant protection. They shared their views during a luncheon on January 31, 2024, hosted by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) and The Washington Times Foundation, as part of the two-day International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit 2024.
“The core value of being able to approach God without interference really underlies all freedom,” said former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. “A government which can block you from approaching God can block you from anything.”
The IRF Summit, led by co-chairs Ambassador Sam Brownback and Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, featured testimonies and details about religious persecution from around the world, including China’s restrictions on Uyghur Muslims, Nigerian Muslim herdsmen killing Christians, Hindu and Muslim battles in India, and the recent massacre in Israel.
The luncheon program further highlighted the efforts of the Japanese government to dissolve and confiscate assets from the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification in Japan. Bitter Winter Editor-in-Chief Dr. Massimo Introvigne told the panel that the Japanese laws passed will impact the freedom of religion in Japan and added that “the Jehovah’s Witnesses are already under attack.”
Religious freedom serves communities as well as individuals, said Prof. Cole Durham Jr., director of Brigham Young University's International Center for Law and Religious Studies. So, if there is wrongful conduct by an individual believer, or a believer’s relative, that individual should be sanctioned, “but the entire religious community should not be shut down or crippled,” he said.
“None of us can allow this to happen,” added former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a video at the luncheon. “America and other free, democratic and God-affirming nations must set the example. The surest way we can achieve this is by being steadfast champions of religious freedom and religious liberty…We should see the attack for what it is…an attempt to undermine the vital U.S.-Japan alliance.”
“It is not OK to engage in collective punishment” or use government and media power to marginalize a faith community and make it “an easy picking for state abuse,” Dr. Lantos Swett said in a panel discussion led by Washington Times Opinion Editor Charles Hurt.
“Japan is at the crossroads,” said Dr. Jan Figel, a renowned religious freedom advocate and member of the IRF Summit Global Leadership Council. “Religious freedom is a litmus test of all human rights,” he said, recalling how half his life was spent under the anti-religious communist regime in the former Czechoslovakia. If religious freedom is disrespected in a nation, “then all other rights surely will be limited, oppressed or violated,” he said.
“Religious freedom means we are friends [of every faith],” and as friends, governments can help other governments protect it, said Ambassador Suzan Johnson Cook, former ambassador-at- large for International Religious Freedom at the U.S. State Department.
Dr. Michael Jenkins, president of UPF International and The Washington Times Foundation, founded by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and her late husband Reverend Sun Myung Moon, stated, “The protection and promotion of religious freedom is the critical responsibility of all who affirm God. UPF and The Washington Times Foundation are committed to protect, defend and advance religious liberty universally. As we join together at the IRF Summit 2024, which is the global leader in this arena, we will forge our collective commitment to fight religious persecution. Together we will roll back the tyranny of all God-denying ideologies and build a better world”.
