International Religious Freedom

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has assembled a variety of resources on international religious freedom, including event transcripts, Q&As and news clips.

Pew Forum Resources

Q&A
Ten Years of Promoting Religious Freedom Through U.S. Foreign Policy
Oct. 16, 2008
Oct. 27, 2008 marks the 10th anniversary of the signing of the International Religious Freedom Act, which made the promotion of religious freedom a basic aim of U.S. foreign policy. Pew Forum Visiting Senior Fellow Allen Hertzke assesses the law’s impact.

Q&A
The Plight of Iraq’s Religious Minorities
May 15, 2008
Senior Research Fellow Brian Grim explains that sectarian violence, ambiguous legal protections for religious freedom, and other factors have contributed to a deteriorating situation for Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq.

Event
Another Trans-Atlantic Divide? Church-State Relations in Europe and the United States
May 22, 2007
The Pew Forum invited a panel of experts from both sides of the Atlantic to discuss the key differences between the U.S. and various European church-state models, including the distinctive virtues and vices of each system.

Event
International Religious Freedom: Religion and International Diplomacy
May 8, 2007
Foreign policy actors continue to debate how religious freedom – and religion itself – should be factored into U.S. foreign policy. The Pew Forum invited three distinguished speakers to address the fundamental questions surrounding the debate.

Event
Religion in a Globalizing World
Dec. 4, 2006
Peter Berger, professor emeritus of religion, sociology and theology at Boston University, examined the globalization of religious pluralism and how the peaceful coexistence of different racial, ethnic and religious groups has become a global phenomenon.

Event
Legislating International Religious Freedom
Nov. 20, 2006
The Pew Forum, the American Academy of Religion and the Library of Congress’ Kluge Center invited four experts to explore why the U.S. has made international religious freedom a priority and in what ways the policy has succeeded or failed.

Event
God’s Country? Evangelicals and U.S. Foreign Policy
Sept. 26, 2006
In an article in Foreign Affairs, Walter Russell Mead argued that as U.S. evangelicals exert increasing political influence, they are becoming a powerful force in foreign affairs. In recent years, evangelicals have voted overwhelmingly Republican, helping to put conservatives at the helm of U.S. foreign policy, while focusing their energies on a handful of specific issues, including support for Israel, the promotion of religious freedom abroad and the alleviation of hunger in Africa.

Other Resources