Can US diplomacy get religion?

[babylonsister]

Can US diplomacy get religion?
In a world where religion is pushing events, US diplomats need a greater expertise in it.

from the August 16, 2007 edition


In much of the world, religion – not ideology – is the prime motivator propelling people and events, often leading to violence. Congress had a sense of that a decade ago when it began considering how the US might better promote religious freedom and tolerance in its foreign policy. It's a subject worth revisiting.

What lawmakers came up with was the International Religious Freedom Act, which was eventually signed in 1998. The law tasked the US State Department with the job of advocating for religious tolerance around the world – through an ambassador and through annual reports that rate country performance. The act also created an independent commission to advise the government.

But the world looks very different from 10 years ago. It's in a period of unprecedented religious pluralism and contact between believers. Religious interest and intensity seem to be accelerating. One result is faith-based tension. Look just about anywhere – the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and even Europe – and it's at a simmer or boil.

A thought-provoking discussion of US diplomacy under the Act was sponsored in May by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Thomas Farr, a former director of the Office of International Religious Freedom summed it up best:

"There are hundreds of people, maybe even thousands of people, walking the earth free today because of our religious freedom policy." But, he went on, "if you ask the macro question, has religious persecution diminished internationally the last decade, the honest answer has got to be, no, it hasn't."

The challenge now is to figure out how to make religious expertise more widespread than the department's 20-person staff – and how to move beyond a diplomacy of naming and shaming violators into action to one which better helps countries recognize that religious tolerance is in their own interest.

more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0816/p08s02-comv.html

[YOY]

1. and we've just sunk a little lower to appease the idiots of the world

There was a time when diplomats had to trangress above religious/cultural differences to get things done...

[More Than A Feeling]

2. America has no credibility to lecture other countries until we put our own house in order.

The sooner we as a society face the awful things our government has done in our name, the sooner we can make restitution, and thereby set an example as country whose marred record did not keep it from returning to the path of righteousness.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. It is important to understand the faiths of the world

the religions of a given people are often an integral part of culture, as well as cultural tension. Going in and either saying one faith is right and the others are wrong or saying no faith (atheism) is the only way to go is not going to change opinions. Diplomacy and cultural sensitivity are what needs to be done.

[babylonsister]

4. Yes, yes, yes! No more bulls in china shops; they don't work. nt