President Donald Trump will host a Global Call to the Protect Religious Freedom event during the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, reads a statement from the White House press secretary.
Trump will keynote the event, and Vice President Mike Pence will introduce the president.
Trump will seek broader international support for efforts to safeguard religious freedom amid the increasing persecution of people based on their faith beliefs and the growing number of attacks on houses of worship.
“The President will call on the international community to take concrete steps to prevent attacks against people on the basis of their religion or beliefs and to ensure the sanctity of houses of worship and all public spaces for all faiths,” the press release states.
Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins said in a statement to Breitbart News, “We are grateful for President Trump’s bold decisive leadership on international religious freedom.”
Perkins continued:
No one should have to practice their faith or worship God in fear. The Trump administration’s record is witness to the fact that they clearly understand the foundational role international religious freedom plays in our national security, as well as the economic and social stability of foreign nations. History will record President Trump was right in making religious freedom a top priority in our nation’s foreign policy.
The Trump administration continues to expand efforts to combat the persecution of people based on their religious beliefs and to broaden support for the defense of human life throughout the world.
Travis Weber, FRC vice president for policy and government affairs, wrote Tuesday at Townhall that the United States under Trump’s leadership has “already distinguished itself as a global leader” on the issue of religious freedom.
Weber also observed four ways the Trump administration can continue its “wake-up call” to the “current worldwide crisis” of religious freedom:
- Encourage countries to train diplomats on religious freedom
- Condemn the use of counter-terrorism to disguise religious oppression
- Condemn the suppression of religious freedom through technology
- Encourage the protection of places of worship
“The U.S. can and should lead the world in advancing religious freedom,” Weber wrote. “The consequences of ignoring the victims of religious oppression are far too grave. If President Trump highlights these areas in his UN speech … it would boost the United States in its role as a world leader on religious freedom.”
On the issue of the dignity of all human life, Bradley Mattes, president of Life Issues Institute and the International Right to Life Federation, recently commended United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar for their “unprecedented letter” inviting other world leaders to stand with the U.S. in defending life at the U.N.
The secretaries’ letter followed a joint statement at the 2019 World Health Assembly by the U.S., Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, Haiti, Indonesia, Iraq, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia in which the countries condemned the use of the phrase “sexual and reproductive health and rights” to force a pro-abortion agenda.
“[P]lease encourage other countries in your region to join this growing coalition to push back against harmful efforts to interpret long-standing international instruments as requiring anti-family and pro-abortion policies,” Pompeo and Azar wrote to the other world leaders, “and to promote proactively positions that will protect families and strengthen the health of all people.”