The Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama on Dec. 16, 2016, seeks to further combat religious persecution across the world.
Also known as HR 1150 and named after the recently retired Virginia Rep. Frank R. Wolf, the bill was introduced by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., in 2015 and co-sponsored by 100 lawmakers before it passed the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in early December.
Co-sponsors hope the bill will “strengthen and modernize” the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998.
Top priority
As acts of violence and terrorism against religious minorities run rampant from Vietnam to Syria to Sudan, the upgraded legislation aims to strengthen key positions within the federal government to make religious freedom a top priority, The Christian Post reported.
“The freedom to practice a religion without persecution is a precious right for everyone — of whatever race, sex or location — on earth,” said Smith, chair of the Global Human Rights Subcommittee. “This human right is enshrined in our own founding documents, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and has been a bedrock principle of open and democratic societies for centuries.”
HR 1150 will “require more frequent executive actions to counter severe violations of religious freedom across the world. … Force all foreign service officers to receive international religious freedom training and … integrate religious freedom into every aspect of U.S. foreign policy,” according to a press release from Smith’s office.
Among several steps to improve the United States’ global diplomacy, the law will create a “special watch list” of countries that engage in or tolerate violations of religious freedom; create a “designated persons list” that will pinpoint people who have committed acts of violence against religious freedom; and complete a “comprehensive religious prisoners list” of those who are detained or imprisoned because of their faith.
‘For those suffering’
Alliance Defending Freedom International’s deputy director Paul Coleman said the bill’s passage “demonstrates that the U.S. is serious about the importance of religious freedom both for those who are suffering and for all those who love freedom in general,” according to christianitytoday.com.
Providing protection
HR 1150, an update to IRFA, also includes protection to “theistic and nontheistic beliefs and the right to not profess or practice any religion,” a first in the law’s 18-year history.
Wolf, who spent 20 years advocating for international persecuted minorities, said the new legislation gives the office of the ambassador at large for religious freedom “more teeth” and “a lot more clout,” the Post reported. (TAB)
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