RFI’s Executive Vice President Eric Patterson recently spoke at the 2022 Religious Freedom Annual Review (RFAR), an event sponsored by the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at the BYU Law School and the Wheatley Institution that brought together nationally recognized policymakers, scholars, and religious leaders to discuss the role of religion and religious freedom in the United States.

RFI President Tom Farr delivered opening remarks at last week’s International Religious Freedom Summit 2022 held in Washington, DC, which First Things has published in adapted form. Farr’s wide-ranging remarks address violent persecution and repression outside of the West as well as the pernicious “retreat from religious liberty in Western democracies.”

This Cornerstone Forum series invites experts to reflect on their experiences in efforts to advance religious freedom globally, engage key stakeholders in the process, and safeguard against mere symbolic support for religious freedom to ensure this right is secure for everyone, everywhere.

The second annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit was held at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. June 28-30. The goal of the Summit was to create “a powerful coalition of organizations that operate together for the cause of religious freedom around the world” with the aim of “increasing the public awareness and political strength for the international religious freedom movement.” Find more information about the IRF Summit here.

In an article published this week in WORLD Magazine, RFI Executive Vice President Eric Patterson argues that rights of conscience must extend to medical professionals and religious hospitals. He also discusses a state-level legislative effort that has seen recent success in South Carolina, and which is part of a broader Medical Conscience Rights Initiative.

RFI recently filed an amicus brief with Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Clinic to assert that all people — including those who are incarcerated — have a fundamental right to live in accordance with their religious beliefs. The brief was filed in support of a petition asking the Supreme Court to review and reverse the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in Smith v. Ward.

In an article published this week in Religion Unplugged, Miles Windsor, Senior Manager for Strategy and Campaigns for RFI’s Middle East Action Team, discusses the importance of terminology in the fight for religious freedom. In particularly, Windsor contrasts the term "international religious freedom," which is used in the U.S., with the term "freedom of religion or belief," which is gaining use around Europe.

Stephen Rasche, RFI Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom in Conflict Regions, recently discussed the Pentecost Sunday massacre at a Catholic church in Nigeria on June 5, as well as the violence that Christians in Nigeria are facing generally.

In an article published today in Providence, RFI Executive Vice President Eric Patterson and recent graduate of Regent University and Patterson’s research assistant since 2020, Abigail Lindner, reflect on “G.K. Chesterton and the Patriotism of Flag Day.”

In an article published this week in WORLD Magazine, RFI Executive Vice President Eric Patterson examines anti-religious “Rejecters” who aim to blot out believers from our nation’s history, a phenomenon described by Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry in their book Taking Back America for God. Patterson explains:

The U.S State Department released its 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom on June 2, 2022. This comprehensive report provides a broad overview of the state of religious freedom for almost 200 countries around the globe.

RFI’s Paul Marshall, Director of the South and Southeast Asia Action Team, was recently interviewed on EWTN News Nightly to discuss the State Department’s newly released 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom. The report contains data from nearly 200 countries and documents where religious freedom is lacking, as well as countries that have seen improvement.

Stephen Rasche, RFI’s Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom in Conflict Regions, was recently interviewed on National Catholic Register’s “Religious Freedom Matters” podcast to discuss how Islamic extremism is the unacknowledged root of violence against Christians in Nigeria. Throughout the interview, Rasche discusses the abuses Nigerian Christians are suffering due to religious prejudice, and the Western world’s lack of understanding of the situation.

In a November 2021 interview for the Academy of Freedom series of the Laboratory of Religious Freedom in Poland, David Trimble, Director of RFI’s National Center for Religious Freedom Education, discussed how religious freedom plays a critical role in securing and strengthening other freedoms in society. He also noted how religious liberty contributes to a host of other societal goods.

Paul Marshall, Director of RFI’s South and Southeast Asia Action Team, was recently interviewed on the National Catholic Register’s “Religious Freedom Matters” podcast to discuss the rise of religious repression in India, Pakistan, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. In the course of the interview, Marshall addressed the background and religious dynamics of different countries in the region, the types of affronts to religious freedom that are occuring, and what he believes are contributing factors.

In an article published today in WORLD Magazine, RFI Executive Vice President Eric Patterson examines the evidence recently uncovered in Chinese government documents exposing atrocities the Chinese Communist Party is committing against Uyghur Muslims.

In an article published recently in WORLD Magazine titled, “Eradicating doctrinally orthodox chaplains in the Canadian military,” RFI Executive Vice President Eric Patterson discusses the troubling recommendation of an advisory panel of the Canadian government to get rid of morally orthodox military chaplains of the “Abrahamic faiths'' for not being “inclusive” enough.

In an article published today in Newsweek, Miles Windsor, Senior Manager for Strategy and Campaigns with RFI’s Middle East Action Team, reflects on the challenges and opportunities that the upcoming International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief, to be held in London July 5-6, 2022, presents.

In an article published today in Providence titled, “Canadian Government Panel Advocates Religious Test for Military Chaplains” Paul Marshall critically examines the final report of Canada’s National Defence Advisory Panel on Systemic Racism and Discrimination.

In an article published today in The Globe and Mail titled, “Religious bigotry won’t solve the Canadian military’s discrimination problem” RFI Senior Fellow Andrew Bennett argues:

Eliminating sexism, racism and other social evils from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is a laudable goal. But sadly, the National Defence Advisory Panel on Systemic Racism and Discrimination has recommended an approach that appears to be based in religious bigotry: a theological cleansing of the military’s chaplaincy from some faiths.

In an article published recently in National Post titled, “Euthanasia is a runaway train in Canada. It’s time to hit the brakes” RFI Research Fellow Brian Bird argues against the expansion of the euthanasia license in Canada.

Miles Windsor, Senior Manager for Strategy and Campaigns for RFI’s Middle East Action Team, recently authored an article for Religion Unplugged titled, “Securing Peace For Egypt’s Christians At Coptic Eastertide.”

In the Spring 2022 edition of the Journal of Middle Eastern Politics & Policy beginning at page 17, Jeremy Barker, Director of RFI’s Middle East Action Team, authored an article titled, “Toward a Stable and Inclusive Iraq? Individual and Institutional Religious Freedom Can Help.” In it Barker “seeks to provide some context to Iraq’s political and social dynamics since 2003…” and to “consider how religious freedom, in both its individual and institutional dimensions, may have something to contribute toward supporting a more stable and inclusive Iraq.”

RFI Executive Vice President Eric Patterson recently authored an article for Providence titled, “Populism in France’s Presidential Election” in which he argues:

For those who believe that a rules-based Western liberal order—with limited government, civil liberties, and a basic form of collective security among democracies—is crucial for world peace, France’s populism reminds us of the threats to democracy and Western solidarity.

Miles Windsor, Senior Manager for Strategy and Campaigns for RFI’s Middle East Action Team, recently interviewed His Eminence Archbishop Angaelos, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in London, on the Coptic Church’s long experience and understanding of persecution.

RFI Executive Vice President Eric Patterson this week authored a piece for WORLD magazine titled, “Understanding Xi’s China” in which he highlights the “dangers of the ‘cult of personality.’”

Charles Ramsey, RFI Senior Fellow and Resident Scholar at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion, was interviewed on EWTN News Nightly to discuss the ban on harvesting poppy plants implemented by the Taliban in Afghanistan.