edrodewald, Author at Writing for the Public Square

A sobering summer reading list

This IRF Summer Reading List features a short selection of books that wrestle with the sobering themes of human dignity, religious persecution, and freedom of conscience. I encourage readers to include one or more of these titles alongside that great American novel this summer.

PBS launched a summer series this week called The Great American Read — a celebration of reading and a challenge to book lovers to weigh in on their choice for America’s best-loved novel. In the spirit of the PBS project, which showcases great fiction, I offer my own challenge: a sobering summer reading list that highlights the important nonfiction topic of international religious freedom (IRF).

Religious freedom conditions are deteriorating around the world. One need only scan the global headlines to recognize the grave consequences born of a disregard for religious freedom. We read of genocide, ethnic cleansing, rape, imprisonment, enslavement, forced displacement, forced conversions, intimidation, harassment, destruction of property, and marginalization of women and children. Indeed, nearly 80% of the world’s population lives in countries with high or very high levels of restrictions or hostilities associated with religious freedom.

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ARTICLE: Satellites and sanctions: How the West can support Iran’s faithful

(This article was originally written for and posted to 21Wilberforce)

In recent days, reports have surfaced that Aziz Majidzadeh, a newly converted Iranian Christian, has been detained at the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran. Aziz had gone missing for several weeks after Iranian security forces raided a Christian workshop he was attending on the outskirts of the Iranian capital. Though he has not been charged, Aziz has been arrested before for “activities related to his faith.” He is not alone.

Since 2010, more than 600 Iranian Christians have been arrested and detained by Iranian authorities. As of late 2016, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reports approximately 90 Christians remain imprisoned due to their religious beliefs and activities.

“Technically, it’s not illegal to be a Christian in Iran. However, in practical terms, policemen, Revolutionary Guards, judges, and every other authority in the country interpret the law for themselves and aren’t accountable to anyone,” writes Marziyeh Amirizadeh, who was herself imprisoned for 10 months in 2009 before receiving asylum in the U.S. “Though being a Christian [is] not a crime, converting from Islam to another faith and evangelizing on behalf of that faith [are] considered crimes of apostasy and punishable by death.”

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ARTICLE: Slow Fade or Renewal of Spirit?

*George W. Bush delivering speech at Spirit of Liberty Forum. Source: George W. Bush Institute.*

By Erin Rodewald // October 25, 2017

(This article originally appeared in Providence magazine)

America in the 21^st century is experiencing an identity crisis of sorts. The nation seems caught in a cultural maelstrom that is producing a crisis of confidence here at home. Free speech is disputed on college campuses, religious freedom is challenged in the courts, and the press is criticized for fabricating news to drive a particular political agenda. Our civic decency and national discourse have been compromised.

Meanwhile, economic, political, and national security concerns have sparked a renewed appetite among many Americans—private citizens and elected officials alike—to turn a collective gaze inward. An apparent downturn in what was once an enthusiastic embrace of the basic tenets of democracy and open markets may be jeopardizing what has been a robust and longstanding foreign policy engagement.

Is the liberal democratic order that has provided stability, prosperity, and freedom across the globe for the better part of 70 years in peril? Is America witnessing a slow fade of its core values, or is the country at a tipping point that will lead to a renewal of the spirit of liberty? Continue reading “ARTICLE: Slow Fade or Renewal of Spirit?”

ARTICLE: Can Sam Brownback Elevate Religious Freedom within U.S. Foreign Policy?

(This article originally appeared at The Philos Project)

Across the globe, assaults on religious freedom abound. Rohingya Muslims are fleeing brutal ethnic cleansing by the Burmese government. Years of war and genocide at the hands of ISIS have decimated the ancient Christian population in Iraq—from 1.5 million in 2003 to fewer than 250,000 today. Pakistani blasphemy laws threaten the lives and freedom of innocent religious minorities. In China, the government routinely shuts down underground churches. Saudi Arabian textbooks teach school children hate and intolerance toward the “unbeliever,” specifically Christians, Jews, Shiites, Sufis, Sunnis, Hindus, atheists and others.

In the United States of course, freedom of religion is the first freedom, enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution and foundational to the very origin and existence of the nation. It follows that religious freedom also would animate U.S. foreign policy—except oftentimes it does not.

“No administration has seen IRF policy as a national security imperative.”

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ARTICLE: On Women’s Equality Day, a Nod to the Dual Importance of Equality and Freedom

In anticipation of Women’s Equality Day, a look at the treatment of women throughout the world, focusing on the nations of the Middle East.

(This article originally appeared in Philos Project)

Tomorrow, August 26, will mark the 44th observance of Women’s Equality Day in the United States. The day commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution – which granted women the right to vote – but also calls attention to ongoing disparities and continuing efforts toward full gender equality.

To be sure, the gender gap in this country is real. For example, women earn 80 cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts. And in 21st century corporate America, only a quarter of CEOs are women.

Still, American women have made important advances in the past 4 1/2 decades, excelling in all aspects of society, including business, academia, politics, athletics, medicine, law, journalism, the arts and the home. Some highlights include:

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INFOGRAPHIC: Who Are the Kurds?

An at-a-glance infographic to offer some clarity about the Kurds, who have introduced both stability and tension to a geopolitically delicate Middle East

(This article originally appeared at Philos Project)

It was three years ago – July 4, 2014 – that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stood in the pulpit of the Al Nuri Grand Mosque in Mosul to declare the creation of an Islamic State caliphate. What followed has been a brutal campaign of blood and destruction across Iraq and Syria.

Today, the caliphate is crumbling – at least geographically. Iraqi and coalition forces have recaptured Mosul and what is left of the Grand Mosque. In Syria, the United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have all but liberated the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa.

To be sure, the victories against ISIS belong to many, but at the heart of some of the fiercest fighting has been one steadfast group: the Kurds, a diverse and dispersed people with no sovereign state but a pervasive presence in the Middle East. In Iraq, the Kurds have functioned as a semi-autonomous state since the end of the first Gulf War. In Turkey, a large Kurdish faction has been branded as terrorists. In Syria, Kurdish militias have been key players in the fight against the Islamic State.

The Kurds have introduced both stability and tension to a geopolitically delicate Middle East.

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BOOK REVIEW: In Defense of Democracy: Condoleezza Rice Explores the Long (and Worthy) Road to Freedom

In her new book, Democracy, Condoleezza Rice reminds us that “Freedom has not lost its appeal.”

(This article originally appeared at Philos Project)

Tomorrow, America will celebrate its 241st birthday. As in years past, July 4 festivities across the nation will stir our collective sense of patriotism. There will be parades and marching bands. Spectacular fireworks will light up the night sky from New York to Los Angeles. In towns and cities across the land, Old Glory will wave and remind us that because we are steeped in a tradition of democracy, we remain a country where all men are created equal – that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

But the contentious political climate in America circa 2017, combined with an apparent upsurge in popularity of autocrats abroad – Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Egypt, to name a few – has many observers wondering if the American experiment has timed out. Could this generation be witness to the worldwide decline of democracy?

In her new book Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom, former U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice abjures the skeptics and dispels the myth that democracy is in retreat. On the contrary, she argued that democracy – while inherently flawed and always imperfect – remains the best means to promote peace and ensure human freedom, dignity and progress around the world.

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ARTICLE: A Precarious Liberty: Religious Freedom in Erdoğan’s Turkey

From his jail cell, American pastor Andrew Brunson cries out, “Will the Turkish government face no consequences for stubbornly continuing to hold an American citizen as a political prisoner?”

Pastor Brunson’s story underscores the swift erosion of religious freedom in Turkey.

(This article originally appeared in The Philos Project)

On April 16, Pastor Andrew Brunson did not celebrate Easter with his flock. Instead, he marked six months and eight days of confinement in a Turkish prison, where he is being held on charges of “membership in an armed terrorist organization.”

Since 1993, American citizens Brunson and his wife Norine have faithfully shepherded a small but vibrant Christian congregation at the Resurrection Church in their adopted home of Izmir, a buzzing, ancient city on Turkey’s Aegean coast. Originally from North Carolina, Brunson was ordained in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and followed the call to church plant in the Muslim-majority nation, where less than 0.2 percent of the population identifies as Christian.

The Brunsons served the people of Turkey without incident for nearly 25 years, even as religious tensions mounted and an increasingly authoritarian regime squeezed religious freedoms. But everything changed on the morning of October 7, 2016, when the Brunsons were summoned to their local police station. Assuming they were about to receive their long-awaited permanent resident designations, they were surprised to find themselves detained on the grounds that they were a “threat to national security.”

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ARTICLE: If Not Assad, Then Who?

(This article originally appeared in The Philos Project)

If the days of Syria’s brutal dictator are numbered – and following last week’s airstrikes by the United States, the whispers have returned – who might be the alternative leader after six years of bloodshed and destruction? It is in the interest of the U.S. to identify and influence Assad’s successor sooner rather than later.

Last week’s strike on the Shayrat Airbase in Syria by American forces was applauded by many international observers as long overdue and morally appropriate. President Donald Trump ordered the targeted military strike on the airfield from which President Bashar al-Assad had launched a deadly chemical weapon attack that killed dozens of his own people.

In remarks following the strike on April 6, Trump seemed to signal a shift in what many believed would be a solid, non-interventionist foreign policy agenda: “Tonight, I call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types.”

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ARTICLE: The Roots of America’s Commitment to Religious Freedom

On President’s Day, a nod to our first president and the origins of America’s embrace of religious freedom.

(This article originally appeared in Medium for 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative)

On February 20, Americans pause to honor and remember our first president. A man of unmatched character and integrity, George Washington set the tone for the nation’s highest office; he set the bar high.

After leading the nascent country to victory over the British, Gen. Washington laid down all claims to political power. Then, upon his unanimous election as the country’s top executive, he rejected the moniker of king, instead embracing a new title — President. After concluding his second term in office, Washington again laid aside control to make way for the peaceful transfer of power, establishing a tradition that has distinguished America among nations for more than two centuries.

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