U.S. foreign policy must promote religious freedom, bishop says

Published: 2006-03-20

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Because religious freedom "lies at the heart of human rights," the U.S. government must give it greater support and higher visibility in its foreign policy decisions, a Catholic bishop told a congressional subcommittee March 16. Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Policy, was addressing the House International Relations Committee's subcommittee on Africa, global human rights and international operations. "Given the enormous potential of religion to contribute to a more humane world, as well as the troubling ways religion can be manipulated, especially in coercive or repressive environments, religious freedom needs to be at the center of the work on human rights in U.S. foreign policy," he said. The March 16 hearing was convened to review the U.S. State Department's 2005 country reports on human rights practices.

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