WASHINGTON — President Obama has responded to more than a year of speculation and criticism among advocates for international religious freedom by naming an American Baptist pastor and motivational speaker as the nation’s top diplomat for religious freedom.
On June 15, the White House announced that Obama had tapped Suzan Johnson Cook as the State Department’s ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, which had remained vacant since Obama’s inauguration nearly a year and a half ago.
But some international-religious-freedom advocates are questioning the nomination because of her lack of professional experience in foreign policy.
Cook has been a teacher, pastor, motivational speaker and political adviser for three decades. Most recently, she served as the founding pastor of Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in New York. Mariners’ Bronx Christian Fellowship is aligned with American Baptist Churches USA and Cook’s ordination is through the denomination.
Thomas Farr, who served as the first director of the office Cook will oversee if she is confirmed, praised her resumé as a pastor, but said the position really needs someone with a strong grasp of, and experience in, the complex field of foreign policy.
“If the Obama administration were taking this issue seriously, it would choose an expert in international religious freedom with experience in foreign affairs. It would choose a proven leader who can change things at the State Department and re-energize our flagging (religious freedom) policy,” he said.
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