A World Vision of Freedom
If there’s one word Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would use to describe the abuses against men and women of faith, it’s “chilling.”
If there’s one word Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would use to describe the abuses against men and women of faith, it’s “chilling.” During last Friday’s press conference, when the agency rolled out its annual report on international religious liberty, one thing was clear, Pompeo said: “2018 was far from perfect.”
There were some bright spots, Ambassador at Large Sam Brownback told me on Wednesday’s “Washington Watch.” For the first time in 13 years, Uzbekistan is no longer a country of particular concern. Elsewhere, he explained, “I think we’ve got some notable improvements in a few places… I think the world is starting to take notice that the United States is serious about this.” One example of that, he said, is the Burundi government, who were arresting, beating, and intimidating Seventh Day Adventists. “They were arrested on a Friday,” Ambassador Brownback explains, “and then the government seemed to start thinking, ‘Well, we may get in trouble about this.’ And by Tuesday they were out of jail… It was like, ‘We just don’t want to be nailed in the global media about this. And so I think you’re seeing us have a positive impact by this attention we’re given to the topic.”
Of course, the flip side of that progress are the regimes like China, who seem to be immune to any sort of global pressure. In the State Department’s latest report, Brownback says the agency even put a special section in the document about Xinjiang, “where the Chinese government has really put in a police state with the cameras and artificial intelligence and facial identification markers that’s really extraordinarily [horrific]. [It’s] really the future of oppression where you get these high-tech systems that freezes you out of the economy and out of participating in this society.”
It’s disturbing, Brownback explained, because it isn’t prison, but the effects are still the same. Effectively, he points out, these men and women of faith can’t participate in society. “They can’t buy and sell. They can’t work in the economy or in the culture. And this is something that’s just been deeply, deeply troubling to me because I just, I think is so it’s wrong what the Chinese are doing.” Worse, he worries, “I think it’s the future of oppression, and I don’t want to see it spread outside of China.”
Hopefully, with the Trump administration’s involvement, it won’t. Already, the plans are well underway for the State Department’s second ministerial on international religious liberty. And based on the first event, it has the potential to change the global dialogue on the persecuted. So far, more than 900 people from as many as 115 countries are registered. In fact, Brownback told me, it’s been so popular that the administration is about to have to close registration. “We’re just out of space.”
But for the millions of abused men and women around the world waiting for leaders to help, the news that so many people are interested in changing the landscape of religious liberty is an answer to prayer. “History,” Secretary Pompeo has said, “will not be silent on these abuses.” And based on these first three years, neither will the Trump administration.
Originally published here.
Generation Z: The Path of LGBT Resistance
For everyone who’s tired of scrolling through rainbow pride this month, here’s some good news. This constant saturation of LGBT messaging may finally be having an effect — and not the one liberals were counting on. Turns out, the Left’s in-your-face approach to sexuality is backfiring, and in the least likely generation of all.
Think the opposition to the LGBT agenda is only in the aging populations? Think again. The latest wave of resistance is in the last place most people would look: the 18-34 demographic. The children of Obergefell aren’t exactly racing to get on the radical bandwagon that’s redefined marriage. In the latest Harris Poll for Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the acceptance of this extreme agenda is dwindling — and young people are leading the revolt. In just a couple of years, statisticians have seen a huge decline in support for an agenda most liberals took for granted.
In every scenario, Generation Z says it’s more uncomfortable than ever in these situations:
Learning their child has a lesson on LGBTQ history in school (up to 39 percent from 27 in 2016);
Finding out that they have an LGBTQ teacher (up to 33 percent from 25 percent in 2016);
Learning a family member is LGBTQ (up to 36 percent from 24 percent in 2016);
Finding out that their doctor was LGBTQ (up to 34 percent from 24 percent in 2016)
To people like John Gerzema, CEO of the Harris Poll, the results came as an incredible surprise. “We count on the narrative that young people are more progressive and tolerant.” But maybe, after years of watching this vocal minority push around Christians and refuse to tolerate other viewpoints, this group of young people has finally had enough. After all, they’re the generation who’s been forced to use gender-neutral pronouns, share locker rooms with the opposite sex, lose sports meets to biological boys, and embrace every other form of political correctness.
Should their frustration really be that shocking, Brandon Morse wonders over at RedState? They’re constantly force-fed LGBT activism, “told they’re bigots and homophobes if they don’t, and are often de-platformed for bringing up even reasonable and nuanced arguments against LGBT agendas.” The rainbow armies have invaded their schools, their sports, their homes, their social media pages, their bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers — and they’re tired of it. The radical Left has pushed too hard — and Generation Z is pushing back.
That’s not because they’re unaccepting or intolerant, Morse insists. There’s just a new resistance brewing. “It’s not anti-LGBT sentiment that’s causing the problem, it’s pro-LGBT activism.” We should all be grateful, he argues. Because in a culture where the scale “is currently tipped toward a hard-Left social justice lunacy that is tearing society apart…. Gen Z is, perhaps unintentionally, applying the correct amount of pressure to tip the scale back.”
Originally published here.
Turkey Day at USCIRF
Thursday morning, I had the opportunity to preside over my first hearing as the Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Liberty (USCIRF) — and the commission’s first in over a decade. The focus was religious freedom in Turkey, and I think you’ll recognize some familiar faces who were called on to testify, including Pastor Andrew Brunson. Hear what he and other leaders had to say about the plight of religious communities in Turkey in the video below.
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.
