WASHINGTON — A New York minister will soon fill the Obama administration’s long-vacant position to oversee international religious freedom after the Senate voted to confirm Suzan Johnson Cook for the post.
The April 14 voice vote positions Cook to become the first female and the first African-American in the post after a lengthy and controversial nomination process.
Cook declined further comment until after she is sworn in.
Cook was nominated last June but her nomination stalled in the Senate and expired in December. Despite concerns she might not have enough diplomatic experience, Cook was re-nominated in February and appeared at a second nomination hearing in late March.
The Baptist minister known as “Dr. Sujay” retired in 2009 as pastor of Bronx Christian Fellowship Church, which she founded in 1996.
She was the first woman elected to lead the prominent Hampton University Minister’s Conference of black clergy.
During hearings, she cited her travels and interfaith work on five continents and her experience as a New York police chaplain as qualifications for the ambassadorial post.
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