Religious freedom advocates have warmly welcomed the Executive Order Advancing International Religious Freedom signed by President Trump on June 2nd.
According to Daniel Philpott, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, the second sentence of the order contains words that these advocates have been waiting for years to hear a president utter: “Religious freedom for all people worldwide is a foreign policy priority of the United States, and the United States will respect and vigorously promote this freedom.”
He says the words are important because they follow the affirmation that: “Religious freedom, America’s first freedom, is a moral and national security imperative.”
Philpott freely admits President Trump is an unlikely promoter of human rights. Still, he says, “if the message is crippled by the messenger, the message still merits support when it is the right one”.
“The Trump administration, whose staff includes sincere and dedicated experts on the issue, has promoted global religious freedom through: an annual ministerial conference that has brought together hundreds of foreign policy officials, religious leaders and civil society leaders from around the world; the appointment of Sam Brownback as a committed and effective ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom; and, now, last week’s executive order”.
