.jpg)
This mess is an example of the dangerous policy landscape that Trump is leaving to Biden. From imposing sanctions on countries that Biden hopes to negotiate with, such as China and Iran, to reducing emergency diplomatic agreements that could break long-standing US positions, as in Morocco, Trump is leaving a tradition that is hard for Biden to implement.
In terms of religious freedom, the Trump administration has done everything from international meetings on the topic to paying more for specific religious groups abroad. Such efforts have been firmly endorsed by evangelical groups that often act to protect vulnerable Christian minorities in places such as Iraq. Trump aides also used the cause of religious freedom to attack enemies such as China, and even executive officials are wondering whether Beijing’s massive detention of Uyghur Muslims could be branded a genocide.
Many in Biden’s orbit have seen the emphasis on religious freedom. Not because they don’t accept the reason. Rather, they question whether the Trump team’s emphasis is on politics or the use of religious freedom as a means of undermining other rights, such as homosexuals and lesbians.
For now, Biden change aides have made no promises to activists asking them to measure or reject certain aspects of Trump’s religious freedom agenda. But Biden seems to understand the sensitivity of the panel involved, some lawyers told POLITICO.
“My prediction is that they will think carefully,” said Andrea Praso, deputy Washington director for Human Rights Watch. “If there are changes, it will be part of a package – you will try to embed it in a broader program.”
Representative Tom Malinowski (DNJ), who served as assistant secretary of state for human rights during the Obama administration, said Biden should express a “strong and principled global human rights policy.”
“Our advocacy for religious freedom in the world is not a political pet project, it would be very useful if it were founded on such a policy, but the United States does not always seem to prioritize other important values that have won,” Malinowski said.
Meanwhile, some leading conservatives say Biden should build on the religious freedom infrastructure that the Trump team is leaving.
“It will reduce the opposition of evangelists to him and if he adopts this policy, it will make him feel more supportive of him,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary.
A Biden change spokesman declined to comment on the story, but a reporter cited Biden’s assurances that he would set aside more evidence to protect America’s faith-based communities against extremist violence.
On Thursday, on the eve of Human Rights Day, Biden issued a statement promising to “strengthen global rights and democracy at the heart of efforts to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
Every presidential administration, whether Republican or Democratic, has faced accusations of human rights abuses. But it is unusual for the Trump administration to prioritize one right, one religious freedom, over others.
Among other things, Trump aides began an annual cabinet meeting to promote religious freedom; Created Alliance of Nations Dedication to the title; And elevated the offices of special envoys to international religious freedom and fought against anti-Semitism in the command structure of the State Department. Meanwhile, the president issued an executive order calling for greater emphasis on religious freedom in diplomatic decision-making. Many of the administration’s political appointees in the State Department and the US Agency for International Development have experience in the field of religious freedom.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also created the Non-Aligned Movement, a group dedicated to reviewing human rights policy. Pompeo used the panel’s report to declare that religious freedom and property are “leading” human rights. He has given numerous speeches on the importance of Christianity in his life, and calls religious freedom America’s “first freedom.”
On the one hand, human rights advocates are pleased with the administration’s focus on the repression of trust groups, many of whom face dire circumstances.
When Trump automatically shows indifference or hostility to human rights – he calls journalists “the enemy of the people,” bans citizens of many Muslim-majority countries from American soil, and is said to have supported China’s mistreatment of Uyghurs (he denies this) – many of Trump’s supporters behind the religious freedom agenda Standing in line.
But rights activists suspect that the motives of Trump aides are not entirely pure.
The emphasis on religious freedom is a way of further penetration into the evangelical community, whose members are particularly concerned about the plight of the Christian minority abroad.
Pompeo, who observes a White House run, has already seen his profile rise in evangelical Christian circles because he advocated loudly for religious freedom. Reports that Vice President Mike Pence has sought to prioritize sending aid to Christian minorities have alerted rights activists who insist that religious freedom policies must be faith-neutral.
Some rights activists also believe that Trump aides are prioritizing religious freedom in a long-running effort to impose policies that denigrate LGBTQ people’s rights and women’s rights.
Mark Bromley, chairman of the Global Equality Council, which advocates for LGBTQ rights, said: “They tried to arm it and use it as a license to discriminate against certain communities.”
The Council and other rights groups call on Biden to reject Pompeo’s Commission on Inaccessible Rights, further clarifying that the United States does not accept the notion that there is a hierarchy of rights with religious freedom.
“We have no guarantee, we have no such thing, but when we talk to everyone about change, we feel they understand the role,” Bromley said, adding that its organization has sued Pompeo over the commission.
Trump’s ambassador for international religious freedom, Sam Brownback, agreed to an interview, but his aides later said he was not available. When asked for comment, the State Department said in a statement to an unnamed official that “the right to freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental right in which the rights of others flow.”
“More religious freedom leads to other freedoms, including assembly and freedom of expression,” the statement said. “We think that promoting and protecting religious freedom makes life better for every citizen.”
Human rights activists have mixed views on which elements of Trump’s religious freedom agenda should be kept or pushed aside.
For example, some have predicted that the Biden administration will hold an annual ministerial meeting on religious freedom, although other countries may conduct it on a regular basis.
Some activists say the Biden group could find ways to emphasize other human rights issues that have undergone a narrow transition under Trump, such as freedom of the press or women’s rights, rather than curtailing activities related to religious freedom. Biden has already promised to hold a “summit for democracy” in which some issues may be highlighted.
Some activists argue that Brownbach’s office and the anti-Semitic ambassador’s office should be re-established under the auspices of the State Department’s Human Rights Bureau. That, too, could send strong signals to any of Biden’s names to guide those offices, that one right is not valued above the others.
Conservatives also say they will pay close attention to Biden’s ambassador choices.
While the issue of religious freedom is unlikely to lead many evangelicals in the election sense in favor of Biden, they said, handling the matter sensitively and diligently would save him some unnecessary headaches.
“This is a very important issue for the majority of evangelists in the country,” Land said. “They won’t be quiet about it.”