\n\tPrince Saud Al Faisal can be an imposing figure. The Saudi foreign minister is a large man with decades of experience dealing with Saudi Arabia\u2019s place in
\n\tthe global universe. Much of that aura disappears, however, when the conversation begins.<\/p>\n
\n\tI was in Riyadh seated across from the prince, illuminating the nooks and crannies of our brand-new International Religious Freedom Act. As
\n\tambassador-at-large for the United States, I saw my role as one of \u201cpromoting\u201d religious freedom. Others in Washington, D.C., wanted to put the emphasis on
\n\t\u201cpunishing\u201d those who were out of compliance with what our Congress had legislated. They were the decibel-raising chest beaters, the testosterone warriors
\n\twho believed in harsh sanctions at the drop of a church closing. They knew that inflamed rhetoric works in Washington. Unfortunately, it works nowhere else
\n\tin the world.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe foreign minister listened to my presentation intently. He showed me the utmost respect. I think he was pleased that I had come, not to curse the
\n\tdarkness, but to light a candle for religious freedom. That \u201ccandle\u201d now had the added force of congressional support. The law was on my side.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut it was his turn to talk. \u201cNow let me tell you about divine legislation.\u201d He had my attention! I listened quietly, respectfully, as he discussed his
\n\tfaith and the unique role of faith for Saudi Arabia, namely, the protective custody of two of the three high holy sites of the Islamic faith (Mecca and
\n\tMedina), which fall within the Saudi Arabia national boundaries.<\/p>\n
\n\tI realized that we were each acknowledging something about the other. We were exchanging existential realities: it was not whether the other was right or
\n\twrong, but what the other believed to be true. It\u2019s always easier to respect beliefs than to change them. Understand the best of your own country\u2019s
\n\tposition. Know enough about your neighbor\u2019s to show it respect. Respect is not endorsement, neither is it compromise, but rather the quiet gleaning of the
\n\tother\u2019s existential reality. Many good initiatives are lost, prematurely, when the message is drowned out by a methodology that lacks respect.<\/p>\n
\n\tOur meeting produced results: private worship by religions other than Islam was sanctioned by the government. Essentially a house church was allowed. For
\n\tSaudi Arabia this was a huge step forward. Granted, there is a long way to go, and this issue will ebb and flow in the meantime. But a positive foothold
\n\twas established, one based on a culturally sensitive methodology, understanding and respecting the other.<\/p>\n
\n\tWe now have another issue that the U.S. State Department wishes to highlight: human rights that specifically protect gay communities. We want other
\n\tcountries to design their laws to protect the gay lifestyle. We\u2019ve gone so far as to say that we will hold countries \u201caccountable\u201d for movement in this
\n\tdirection. Supposedly that means that this issue will have a bearing on our foreign aid, potential trade agreements, security pacts, and the like. Given
\n\tthe fact that this issue is still very much in process in our own courts, it is being \u201coffered\u201d to the rest of the world with a little bit of hubris.<\/p>\n
\n\tUnlike religious freedom, the issue of gay rights is more difficult for the United States to promote. It is clear that major segments of our society
\n\tcontinue to be troubled by the need for gay rights. Additionally, virtually every major religious denomination has struggled with this issue, with fallout
\n\ton all sides. Our politicians appear to be equally conflicted, continually \u201cevolving,\u201d enough so that one has to wonder if this is more about votes than
\n\tvalues. Granted, attitudes appear to be changing, with much of that change happening in the past two decades. This issue has become dominant in American
\n\tculture. The patriarch of Duck Dynasty notwithstanding, this issue appears ready to continue to move inexorably forward. For now, it is part of our
\n\texistential reality, howbeit a long way from our Founders\u2019 intentional support of religious freedom.<\/p>\n
\n\tHow would we hold other countries accountable regarding this issue? Those countries that are Islamic in nature and governance would find it exceedingly
\n\tdifficult to make changes to satisfy an American request. This might give new meaning to \u201ca bridge too far.\u201d But there are also majority Christian
\n\tcountries in Asia and Africa who simply will not budge on this issue.<\/p>\n
\n\tSome months ago I received a call from a former colleague with whom I worked while at the State Department. She wanted both help and advice on getting pro
\n\tgay rights laws enacted in Uganda. I knew immediately the size and steepness of the hill she had decided to climb. The AIDS epidemic, in the minds of many
\n\tAfricans, started in Uganda. Uganda was \u201cground zero\u201d for an epidemic that almost wiped out an entire continent. Once the disease was detected, Uganda took
\n\ta very aggressive approach to solving this killer. Training programs were begun, information was promulgated along the truck routes that had aided the
\n\tspread of the disease. Uganda asked the world community for help in getting ahead of the curve and stopping the disease through proper education. The
\n\tcountry\u2019s efforts were honest, open, helpful—and heroic—to all of Africa and the world.<\/p>\n
\n\tNow this country was being pressured to adopt laws to protect gay rights. The difficulties are obvious. How easy is it to legalize gay rights when, rightly
\n\tor wrongly, a country feels that this behavior carries a disease that almost destroyed a country, if not a continent? And how does another country hold
\n\tUganda \u201caccountable\u201d in the process? To have so little respect for Uganda\u2019s reality suggests societal naivet\u00e9 at best, and at worst cultural imperialism.
\n\tThere is obviously something wrong when human rights have to be coercively applied.<\/p>\n
\n\tOne of the mantras of religious freedom is that for faith to be authentic, it has to be freely embraced. Coercive initiatives toward religion are anathemas
\n\tto its freedom. Might we be crossing that line with this issue? When do we switch from \u201cpromoting\u201d to \u201cpunishing\u201d?<\/p>\n
\n\tThere have been stirrings in the State Department to tie the issue of gay rights to religious freedom. The logic behind this desire is hard to explain, but
\n\tthe possibility continues to be pushed, regardless of logic.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt is true that religious freedom is foundational to all human rights. Freedom of conscience and belief introduces our nation\u2019s Bill of Rights.<\/p>\n
\n\tThomas Jefferson saw it as our \u201cfirst freedom,\u201d allowing for other freedoms such as assembly, speech, and press to also be free. If we were ever put into a
\n\tsituation in which religious freedom was lost, all of the other freedoms that we prize would be gone as well. It is also true that when religious freedom
\n\tis weakened in any way, all of our human rights are similarly weakened. There is a certain logic for putting religious freedom at the tip of our human
\n\trights spear for other countries. This is a right that commands universal agreement in the United States. Religious freedom is the very definition of
\n\t\u201csettled\u201d law, and encumbering this right with issues far less settled, both within and without the country, does not seem to be a wise step forward.<\/p>\n
\n\tSo how do we address this emerging issue in foreign affairs, an issue that is so societally complex and controversial? Pope Francis recently surprised a
\n\tlot of people when the issue of gay rights was broached with him. \u201cThe church is obsessed\u201d with this issue, he said, a phrase that also suggests that this
\n\twas not where he wanted to stand his ground.<\/p>\n
\n\tMore than stepping away from confrontation, however, Pope Francis clearly wanted to change the tone of the discussion. He obviously did not want methods to
\n\tdestroy message, for he was quick to point out what that main message was. Above all, he did not want to lose \u201cthe freshness and fragrance of the gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIt is much better to listen with love than confront with judgment. We all must come to see the existential reality of the \u201cother.\u201d With listening comes
\n\trespect and honor for the human dignity of all persons.<\/p>\n
\n\tHopefully it is obvious that we need to avoid the \u201cWe have it; you need it; look out, world, here we come\u201d approach. Rather we need to take the time to
\n\tlisten intently, understand fully, and proceed cautiously. We need to get both the substance and the tone right. We also need to know the difference in
\n\t\u201cpromoting\u201d versus \u201cpunishing.\u201d Mutual respect will go a long way in making this come out right.<\/p>\n
\n\tA Final Word That Speaks to the Christian<\/p>\n
\n\tWe come at such an exercise from a position of profound strength. Our spiritual reality is based on an exclusive King and an inclusive kingdom. We
\n\tcelebrate the \u201cwhosoever\u201d of John 3:16; an inclusive word for our time and all time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prince Saud Al Faisal can be an imposing figure. The Saudi foreign minister is a large man with decades of experience dealing with Saudi Arabia\u2019s place in the global universe. Much of that aura disappears, however, when the conversation begins. I was in Riyadh seated across from the prince, illuminating the nooks and crannies of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[301],"tags":[133],"class_list":["post-6267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-july-august-2014","tag-july-august-2014"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charming-bohr.160-238-31-172.plesk.page\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}