The dramatic intensification of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that commenced February 24, 2022 (with origins that go back to 2014) constitutes a shameful and horrific injustice. In the context of this ongoing conflict, RFI seeks to increase understanding of the religious dynamics of the region — both the thriving landscape of religious pluralism in Ukraine and the many dimensions of religious freedom that have helped to secure and foster it. The resources below address these themes, and RFI will continue to add to them throughout the crisis.
RFI’s Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team has joined several religious institutions in a friend of the court brief filed in the Supreme Court in support of the religious liberty of Quaker prisoners. The case is Green Haven Preparative Meeting v. New York State Department of Corrections, No. 21-1027.
From February 12-19, RFI’s Vice President for Public Policy, David Trimble, joined Jeremy Barker, Director of RFI’s Middle East Action Team, to lead a series of religious freedom trainings and public events across Iraq.
RFI Excecutive Vice President Eric Patterson recently authored an article published in WORLD titled, “Beijing’s Berlin moment.” In it he draws parallels between the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and asks what should have been done differently in the lead up to the current games, and what should be done now as they begin, to avoid letting “the Olympics overshadow China’s human rights abuses.”
Paul Marshall, Director of RFI’s South and Southeast Action Team, recently authored an article for Providence reviewing the latest biography by Lela Gilbert titled, Baroness Cox: Eyewitness to a Broken World. He outlines his personal interactions with Caroline Cox, Baroness of Queensbury, and explains why she is such an important figure in the fight to protect the rights of religious minorities in societies around the world.
Stephen Rasche, RFI Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom Policy, spoke at the Franciscan University of Steubenville last week on the ongoing persecution of Nigerian Christians by Boko Haram and other Islamist groups. His presentation, titled, “Nigeria on the Brink: The Current Crisis of Anti-Christian Violence in Nigeria and the International Response,” was moderated by Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review and covered in an article by Catholic News Agency (CNA).
U.K. Member of Parliament Rehman Chisti, formerly the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief and currently an RFI Senior Fellow, and Jeremy Barker, Director of RFI’s Middle East Action Team, co-authored an article this week on the recent, attempted military coup in Sudan and the importance of preserving the critical gains that have been made there since 2019.
In a recent interview with managing editor for Providence, Mark Melton, RFI Executive Vice President Eric Patterson speaks about increasing religious violence in Nigeria and why Americans should pay attention to these alarming developments. Patterson’s remarks touch upon key points he raised in a recent article on this subject, published in Providence in April.
In an article published recently in Providence, RFI Executive Vice President Eric Patterson explains that “violence against Nigerian Christians has recently entered a new, deadlier phase.” The situation is dire, and unless “conditions on the ground change,” Patterson writes, “Nigeria’s Middle Belt Christians face death or expulsion in many areas.”
A group of leading religious freedom and humanitarian relief experts met March 5-7 at Ave Maria School of Law (Florida) to discuss ways to protect persecuted religious minorities in Sub-Saharan Africa amid rising violence. An inadequate response to their plight risks abandoning them to the same devastating fate that Christians and Yazidis have endured in Iraq in recent years. These experts came together to identify a way forward in terms of providing relief and preserving pluralism in the region. Kent Hill, RFI co-founder and senior fellow for Eurasia, Middle East, and Islam, was among those who participated.
