On the first Thursday of February each year, lawmakers and religious leaders from around the world gather for an event here in Washington that has been going on for 65 years. It is the National Prayer Breakfast, which celebrates both the privilege of living in a nation where we can openly pray and of how God yet remains the foundation of every freedom we enjoy in America.

President Trump recalled those very truths when he took the podium before political and faith leaders [yesterday], saying, “This gathering is a testament to the power of faith and is one of the great customs of our nation… Our republic was formed on the basis that freedom is not a gift from government, but that freedom is a gift from God.”

I was deeply encouraged to hear the president also reference the legislation that FRC working with lawmakers introduced [Wednesday] on Capitol Hill — the Free Speech Fairness Act. In a show of solidarity with pastors who have been muzzled in their own pulpits by the decades-old Johnson Amendment, Trump stressed: “I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution. I will do that, remember. Freedom of religion is a sacred right, but it is also a right under threat all around us.”

Trump mentioned atrocities carried out against religious groups overseas as well, noting that his new secretary of defense and secretary of state were going to work toward rectifying the horrendous slaughter of Jews, Christians and Muslims by totalitarian regimes. It was a refreshing change to hear the commander in chief talk about his love of and belief in God’s wisdom for us and our country and to correctly identify the disturbing pattern of persecution of believers both here and abroad.

As I told Shannon Bream when I joined her on Fox News “America’s Newsroom” [yesterday], I believe the president’s remarks to have been on-target and a critical move toward returning faith to the public square. A move that is critical to well-being of every American, religious or not.

Originally published here.

A World Desperate for Healing

The U.S. State Department is the face of America to the world, and among other things, is tasked with ensuring the protection of religious freedom worldwide through diplomacy and advocacy. In the wake of the Left’s global campaign of sexual anarchy, violence and porous borders, however, those protections have fallen by the wayside. For the good of the world, religious freedom must be restored to its proper role in U.S. foreign policy.

[Wednesday], Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to President Trump and new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, urging Trump to appoint an ambassador for international religious freedom as quickly as possible. This important position within the State Department stands vacant, and the longer it does, the easier it is for the world to view our nation as one that doesn’t prioritize religious liberty. Even mainstream publications recognize that religious persecution around the world is at an all-time high. Jews, Yezidis, Christians and Shia Muslims are suffering the loss of property, freedom and life at the hands of totalitarian regimes. The world is crying out for our intervention!

In their letter, the senators reminded Trump and Tillerson, “As mandated by the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (P.L. 114-281), this bipartisan law requires that the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom ‘shall report directly to the Secretary of State,’ rather than being buried in the bureaucracy of the department, underscoring the centrality of religious freedom in U.S. foreign policy.”

This diplomatic advocate in the State Department falls within the Office of International Religious Freedom, which also works closely with the independent, bipartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. These offices, together with the ambassador, the secretary of state and the president, must work diligently to effect religious freedom protections in foreign policy. This includes, but is not limited to, integrating and prioritizing the promotion of religious freedom in all U.S. foreign policy, including conducting the proper training of those responsible for this task. We also must fully implement the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, protect refugees and asylum seekers who are persecuted on the basis of religion, provide foreign assistance to protect religious freedom, and respond swiftly to the suppression of religious freedom around the world.

We must also ensure that key State Department personnel understand the importance of religious freedom. That means we need an assistant secretary of state in place to oversee the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor — someone who is fully engaged in protecting religious freedom around the world.

Along with the Department of State, other U.S. agencies engaged abroad should strengthen the work they have begun and initiate additional efforts in the United Nations and international organizations to (1) broaden the number of countries willing to support and defend religious freedom, (2) strengthen the role of civil society advocates on behalf of religious freedom within and through multilateral fora, and (3) strengthen the policies and programming of multilateral institutions on religious freedom.

I encourage you to join me in praying for the persecuted overseas. I also encourage you to pray for our government at large, that our elected and appointed representatives would not take lightly the critical task of protecting the most vital of human rights.

Originally published here.

No Compassion in India

It’s no secret that many of the world’s largest nations are openly hostile to divergent religious views, and India has just landed firmly at the top of that list. By cutting off all outside funding for Compassion International, one of the largest Christian charities in the world is now faced with shuttering its 580 Indian-staffed development centers and leaving an incredible 145,000 children without humanitarian aid.

Compassion has had a presence in India for 48 years — and understandably so. As the second-most populous nation in the world, a full third of the world’s poorest people live in India. Compassion helps more children in India than in any other nation. But despite its incredible work, the government of India has blocked the clearance of funding for Compassion through its borders.

The reason is simple: Nearly 80 percent of India’s people are Hindu, and only 2 percent are Christian. In 2011, India changed its Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) so that it could regulate NGOs (like Compassion) it disagrees with philosophically. Not surprisingly, attacks on Christians and Muslims started to rise, and, consequently, India is now No. 17 on Open Doors’ list of countries where it’s hardest to be a Christian, a 14-point jump from 2013. It’s since joined Russia, Myanmar, China and North Korea toward the top of the list.

In December of last year, Compassion’s lead attorney, Stephen Oakley, made an impassioned plea for help before the House Foreign Affairs Committee: “What we’re experiencing is an unprecedented, highly coordinated, deliberate and systematic attack intended to drive us out.”

More than 7,000 Christians were killed overseas for their faith last year alone. What we’re seeing with Compassion International’s case is that without sufficient protections in place, governments are articulating any reason they like for discriminating against, shutting down or outright criminalizing religion. Compassion International, and others like it such as the Christian Aid Mission, are the stakeholders in a silent world war on religious liberty, where the freest nation on earth has failed to come to their assistance because it has not fully helped its own.

During this time of reflection on religious liberty at home and overseas, as we welcome a new president and new protections for our faith, America must act to protect values not just inherent to our nation but to humanity as a whole. Worshiping as one sees fit is now a reason to be driven out, tortured or die in some countries. Let’s pray that this administration uses its power and influence to first protect the freedoms of the faithful here at home and then once again become a voice for the voiceless abroad.

Originally published here.

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This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.