Written by Don Byrd
In a conversation with PBS’ Gwen Ifill, Religious Freedom Ambassador-at-Large Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook discusses the state of religious freedom around the world and the role it plays in maintaining peace.
GWEN IFILL: Is there are a connection between this kind of religious tolerance, freedom, and global security?
SUZAN JOHNSON COOK: Very much so.
We have found where there is religious freedom, there is more stability. And where there is the absence of religious freedom, there is more chance for religious extremism, extremist violence. And so there’s definitely a connection. So, we try to integrate religious freedom into our foreign policy and into our national security.
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For example, last week, I was in Liberia, which is a success story. And there, 10 years ago, the women, the Muslim and Christian women came together and said, it is time for the fighting to stop. War because of religious issues has to stop.And this year, President Johnson Sirleaf signed her 10-year agreement in terms of, we’re going to uphold religion freedom. So, sometimes, we see measurable success and we can uplift that, and, sometimes, we can’t measure it. So, we have to continue with our efforts for promoting religious freedom around the world.
There can be no true peace, and no true democracy, until people are free to worship and enact their faith according to the dictates of their conscience. Religious freedom is the strongest antidote we have to combat religious violence.
