The podium at last year’s religious freedom ministerial stage in DC. This year’s IRF conference was virtually hosted by Poland.
The cause of international religious freedom has gone more international.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the third Ministerial to Advance Freedom of Religion or Belief was hosted this week outside the United States for the first time—in Poland.
Next year it will take place in Brazil.
Launched in 2018 by the US State Department, the ministerial brings together the world’s top diplomats to ensure religious freedom remains an integral focus of international foreign policy.
The focus is necessary: 80 percent of the world’s population lives in nations that restrict religious freedom, according to the Pew Research Center.
And the pandemic has only increased persecution.
“Malign actors have tried to use COVID-19 to restrict religious freedom,” said Sam Brownback, US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.
“The need to expand religious freedoms and protect religious minorities has become a global priority.”
The novel coronavirus took center stage at the two-day conference, hosted virtually by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The 2019 Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom drew about 1,000 delegates to Washington. This year’s event was hosted online by Poland due to the pandemic.
Gayle Manchin, chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), said restrictions on religion began as early as March. She cited several examples…
This article was originally published at Christianity Today, on November 18, 2020. Please click here to read the full text.
Jayson Casper 