3 Things You Should Know About the New International Religious Freedom Bill
The bill is an upgrade of an existing law
President Bill Clinton signed the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 that established within the U.S. Department of State an office designed specifically to address religious freedom concerns around the world. This State Department office is headed by an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom and operates independently from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a body that was also established in the 1998 law.
The updated legislation named after Wolf includes provisions aimed at strengthening key positions within the federal government to make religious freedom a top priority. The bill ensures that the Ambassador-at-Large reports directly to the Secretary of State and not a lower-ranking official.
Also guaranteed are a minimum number of employees to staff the IRFO office such that the issue will not "become politically irrelevant according to the whims or indifference of an administration," as noted by Matthew Hawkins of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Training that is currently optional regarding the "strategic value of international religious freedom" will now be mandatory for all Foreign Service Officers.
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The 1998 law passed with broad bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress, 375-41 in the House and 98-0 in the Senate. The new Act, also known as H.R. 1150, passed with a unanimous voice vote in the House in 2015.
