China has announced that four U.S. leaders will be banned from entering the country: Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio; Rep. Chris Smith; and diplomat Sam Brownback. This action was in response to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s earlier decision to bar a number of Chinese officials from entering the United States because of their role in alleged violations of the rights of Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region of China.

For most Americans, references to religious freedom are common in domestic disputes like those addressed in the U.S. Supreme Court’s recently concluded term. Most also know that serious violations of the human right to religious freedom occur across the world. Perhaps less well-known are U.S. efforts to promote religious freedom internationally.

China’s recent announcement spotlights one of these. In 1998, Congress passed the International Religious Freedom Act. It created an Office of International Religious Freedom and an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. The office promotes religious freedom in U.S. foreign policy and issues an annual report on religious freedom around the world.

Sam Brownback is the ambassador for international religious freedom. This is primarily an advocacy role, drawing attention to abuses of religious freedom around the world and encouraging appropriate pressure be brought to bear to make needed changes.

Noting abuses of religious minorities in China is presumably what Ambassador Brownback did to get banned from China.

A Deseret News profile notes that since his confirmation, the ambassador has met with people who have been victimized by religious persecution, “increased coordination between the U.S. government and private organizations working to end religious persecution, inspired other countries to hire religious freedom ambassadors and co-hosted a first-of-its-kind religious freedom gathering of leaders from more than 80 countries that spawned regional summits on this topic in the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan.”

In 2018 and 2019, the office organized “Ministerials to Advance Religious Freedom,” high-level meetings about protecting religious freedom. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence addressed the 2019 event, which included 100 national delegations along with civil society and religious leaders.

Participants in the 2018 Ministerial adopted a Potomac Declaration. It says, “80 percent of the global population reportedly experience severe limitations on this right.” It then asserts: “Where religious freedom is protected, other freedoms – like freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly – also flourish. Protections for the free exercise of religion contribute directly to political freedom, economic development, and the rule of law. Where it is absent, we find conflict, instability, and terrorism.”

The declaration endorses 10 principles of religious freedom, including:

• “Persons who belong to faith communities and non-believers alike have the right to participate freely in the public discourse of their respective societies.”
• “Parents and legal guardians have the liberty to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.”

After the Ministerial, a number of countries, including the United States, created the International Religious Freedom Fund, which “provides emergency assistance to victims of religiously motivated discrimination and abuse around the world.”

There is much to do. The 2019 report on international religious freedom was released June 10. In introducing it, the secretary of state noted progress such as Gambia’s decision to bring a case to the International Court of Justice on behalf of the Rohingya people, the approval of a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United Arab Emirates, and the end of raids on unregistered religious groups.

On the other hand, the secretary noted major areas of concern such as China, Nicaragua and Nigeria. The report is divided by country, and the section on China runs to 115 pages, including “reports of deaths in custody and that the government tortured, physically abused, arrested, detained, sentenced to prison, subjected to forced indoctrination in CCP ideology, or harassed adherents of both registered and unregistered religious groups for activities related to their religious beliefs and practices.” Nicaragua’s section details serious harassment and attacks on Catholic priests and churches. In Nigeria, the report details government detention of an Islamic leader and continued terrorist attacks on religious targets.

Since research shows that “higher levels of government restriction of religion (or limits on religious freedom) result in higher levels of social hostilities involving religion,” promoting religious freedom is an excellent goal of American foreign policy. America’s leadership in this area is welcome and needed.