The Biden administration is working tirelessly to repudiate the pro-religious freedom policies that were put in place under the presidential term of Donald J. Trump. By ditching religious freedom as a primary focus in foreign policy, America's ability to aid religious minorities in places like China and Middle East is now undetermined.
According to The Washington Free Beacon, rise in persecution is expected to ensue as the Biden administration backs away from promoting religious freedom abroad -even after the progress that the Trump administration had in the matter.
In March, Secretary of State Antony Blinken overturned a 2020 executive order under Trump's administration requiring federal agencies to "prioritize international religious freedom in the planning and implementation of United States foreign policy." A fund of $50 million was also allocated for religious freedom trainings and for foreign assistance.
During the press conference on release of the 2020 country reports on human rights practices, Lisa Peterson, acting assistant secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, claimed that there is a separate "stand-alone report" on international religious freedom. She said that they are "deeply concerned" about questions on religious freedom, but that they will focus on the bigger picture of human rights.
"Certainly you can look at examples and see where governments who have gone down a wrong road on religious freedom subsequently go down a wrong road on other issues," she said.
Olivia Enos, a senior policy analyst at Heritage Foundation, comments that this decision by Biden's White House would just "hamper its broader foreign policy interests and human rights commitments."
"I think it would be a huge mistake for the Biden administration not to build momentum from the work done by the Trump administration to promote religious freedom," she said.
The Free Beacon also noted that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has urged the current administration to fill several key positions dedicated for religious freedom, The State Department and the National Security Council, however, did not respond to the request and refused to comment on potential nominations.
The report went on to say that if the emphasis on religious liberty is weakened, it will undermine America's contribution in addressing the humanitarian crises in China.
"There are several instances where Chinese Communist Party members were sanctioned in no small part due to the people throughout the administration (Trumps') who worked on religious freedom pushing for it," Enos said.
Back in January, activists castigated the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers for playing down the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Tigray, Ethiopia by simply making a public declaration, but with no definitive action from the government.
In contrast, the International Committee on Nigeria praised President Trump's executive order on religious freedom as "a continued commitment to promoting and protecting religious freedoms abroad by stopping crimes against people of faith." This was during the rising religious violence against Nigerian Christians amid the pandemic last year.
Nury Turkel, a USCIRF commissioner, remains hopeful that the Biden administration will soon have an acceptable approach on religious freedom as it is "inseparable from core American values."
