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Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Dignity is a universal birthright,' Elder Soares says at religious freedom summit
WASHINGTON — A leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offered a message of solidarity Wednesday to persecuted people of faith numbered in the millions. 'We stand with you. You are not alone,' said Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the fifth annual IRF Summit at the Washington Hilton near the White House. 'Amid your suffering, confusion and anger, I urge you not to let these feelings weaken your faith. Hold onto hope, and let it give you strength and resilience,' he said. The summit gathered more than 2,000 people for three days from dozens of countries, including news media and nongovernmental organizations that cover and work for the religiously persecuted across the globe. Elder Soares said some answers are rooted in an understanding among all people that everyone deserves human dignity, compassion and respect. He characterized dignity as the foundation of human rights. He said societies thrive when their laws and cultures recognize, respect and protect the inherent value of every person. 'Dignity is a universal birthright,' he said. 'Everyone has dignity simply by being human, regardless of religion, race, gender or nationality. While cultural and religious differences enrich our shared humanity, they do not affect our dignity.' He said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights defines dignity as the 'foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.' 'We consequently have the right to life, liberty, security, equal protection under the law and freedom of thought, speech and religion,' Elder Soares said. 'These rights place us all on equal moral ground and give our lives meaning. Human dignity is the shared foundation of religious traditions worldwide.' Human dignity helps balance the inequalities of privilege, wealth and opportunity, he said, and must be universally upheld. 'Dignity is about understanding our humanity,' he said. 'The search for meaning, whether individually or within a community, is a sacred right that no one can impose. 'Every person matters, always and everywhere.' The three-day IRF Summit leads up to Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast and additional religious freedom events this week. Elder Soares noted that the backdrop for all of it is the simultaneous celebration of World Interfaith Harmony Week. 'May we all strive, across faiths and borders, to create a more compassionate world for everyone, everywhere,' he said. He also called it inspiring to see the IRF Summit participants 'working so tirelessly to find sustainable solutions. Thank you for your commitment to this noble cause.' He called for a multi-faith responsibility for protecting the human rights he enumerated. 'We often take such rights for granted, as if they have always been around and always will be around,' Elder Soares said. He then repeated key points he made at the IRF Summit's opening reception on Monday night. 'These rights speak for themselves but cannot defend themselves. That is our task,' he said. 'I believe our rights come from God, but that the care of those rights is up to us. This divine origin is important, because if rights are reduced to whatever the current cultural or religious majority wants, then they become nothing more than opinion or, worse, a tool for power.' Religions inspire compassion and unity, Elder Soares said. 'Our very understanding of human rights originates from religious ideals,' he said during a lunch meeting. Elder Soares spoke from the same stage where U.S. Vice President JD Vance spoke earlier in the day. Vance talked about seeing churches bring communities together as a boy and still today. Elder Soares referenced the same subject. 'Churches and congregations of all kinds bring communities together, as we heard today,' Elder Soares said. 'They provide a setting for people to serve those who they would not normally serve and to talk with people they would not normally talk with.' Vance quoted a Founding Father, President John Adams, on the same topic. Adams said that statesmen 'may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.' Elder Soares said, 'The idea of compassion is deeply embedded in the fabric of religion, serving as a common thread that connects us to a shared responsibility for each other's well-being. However, the impact of religion goes beyond compassion. I believe lasting religious freedom is rooted in religious principles that foster moral individuals, encourage peace and promote service to vulnerable communities.' Also lending his voice to the summit was actor Rainn Wilson, star of 'The Office.' He spoke about resilience at the Summit on Wednesday. Wilson is a member of the Baháʼí Faith, and said that from 180 years of persecution, Baháʼí believers are fostering 'constructive resilience.' 'What is that?' Wilson said. 'Instead of merely suffering, how do we take this kind of persecution and transform it into gold? How do we transform it into survival?' Elder Soares made a case that societies need religion because they inspire compassion, which he called crucial because with it, people see each other as brothers and sisters rather than foreigners and strangers. He also said compassion calls people to action. 'Compassion goes beyond tolerance — it calls us to understand and engage with those who are different,' Elder Soares said. 'It should be the driving force behind our shared efforts for conscience and religious freedom. Compassion must not just be an ideal, but a practice we nurture through daily actions, guiding our efforts for greater religious freedom worldwide.' He said the idea of compassion is embedded deeply in the fabric of religion. 'It serves,' he said, 'as a common thread that connects us to a shared responsibility for each other's well-being. However, the impact of religion goes beyond compassion. I believe lasting religious freedom is rooted in religious principles that foster moral individuals, encourage peace and promote service to vulnerable communities.' He also said religious belief can do a lot of heavy lifting for people and societies. 'The great religions shield us from despair and feelings of insignificance,' he said. 'Sacred texts inspire us to seek goodness, simplicity and higher purpose while teaching us to overcome inner weaknesses and fight external injustices.' Elder Soares expressed sadness and concern that violent acts against religious groups have reached unprecedented levels globally, citing the Pew Research Center. 'My friends, I don't want to downplay the serious struggles you face, especially the violence and suffering you may be enduring. Religious freedom is a complex issue, and there is no simple solution." He noted that Latter-day Saints have their own history of intense, violent persecution in the past. 'However,' he said with emotion, 'history does not have to repeat itself. Whether we let our violent past shape our future is up to us.'
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Here's what Vice President JD Vance just told believers about Trump's religious freedom plans
Vice President JD Vance promised Wednesday that President Donald Trump's second administration will vigorously defend religious freedom, saying it already is expanding on the achievements of the first administration. 'You shouldn't have to leave your faith at the door of your people's government, and under President Trump's leadership, you won't have to,' Vance said to cheers and applause at the fifth annual IRF Summit in Washington, D.C. He is the highest-ranking American government figure to ever address the international religious freedom conference. Vance arrived to a standing ovation and cheers from more than 1,000 people in the ballroom at the Washington Hilton, a mile-and-a-half from the White House. He received another standing ovation after a 12-minute speech, during which he called religious freedom 'the bedrock of civil society in the United States of America.' 'This administration is intent on not just restoring but on expanding the achievements of the first four years,' Vance said. 'In this short period, the president has issued orders ending the weaponization of the federal government against religious Americans, pardoned pro-life protesters who were unjustly imprisoned under the last administration and, importantly, stopped the federal censorship used to prevent Americans from speaking their conscience and speaking their mind, whether it's in their communities or online.' Vance's speech was followed immediately by addresses by former 'The Office' star Rainn Wilson and Brett Scharffs, director of BYU's International Center for Law and Religion Studies. The prime minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, spoke later in the same session. Vance also addressed an elephant in the room, the blanket freeze of funds that affected a significant portion of the groups attending the international religious freedom summit. Vance said the Trump's first term was a new high water mark for religious Americans. 'He took decisive action to defend religious liberty, combat antisemitism and preserve the conscience rights of hospital workers and faith-based Ministries as they provide care to their fellow Americans, and to remove barriers from religious organizations and businesses to contract with the federal government,' the vice president said. He also said Trump emphasized the role of religious freedom in foreign policy from China to the Middle East, Europe and Africa. 'The first Trump administration took critical steps to protect the rights of the faithful, whether that was by rescuing pastors who were persecuted by foreign regimes or bringing relief to the Yazidis, Christians and other faith communities facing genocidal terror from ISIS.' He said that will continue in the next four years. 'Part of our protecting religious freedom initiatives means recognizing, in our foreign policy, the difference between regimes that respect religious freedom and those that do not,' Vance said. 'The United States must be able to make that distinction. We must be able to look at the catastrophes like the plight of Iraq's Christians over the past three decades, and possess the moral clarity to act when something has gone wrong. 'Now this administration stands ready to do so.' IRF co-chair Katrina Lantos Swett, a Democrat, expressed gratitude for Vance's visit. 'I think it's a reflection of the respect and support, really, for what this movement is about, that even in the very early days of the administration, the vice president made time to join us and spoke so eloquently about the cause we're engaged in,' she said. The IRF Summit is a major bipartisan, multifaith international religious freedom conference that draws religious leaders, academics, nonprofit organizers and government leaders from dozens of countries. Last year, 1,500 people joined the summit from 41 countries. 'Thank you all for convening and participating in this summit, which is upon a topic whose importance unfortunately grows with each passing moment and hopefully our administration can help,' Vance said. A year ago, former Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the IRF Summit, where he said those working for the cause of freedom of religions are making God's work on Earth their own. Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles attended Vance's speech. Elder Soares spoke at the summit's opening reception on Monday night, when he said that protecting human rights is pivotal to peacemaking, an essential focus of all religions. Elder Soares is scheduled to address the summit again later today representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Vance defended Trump's move to freeze funds to nongovernmental organizations a day after the administration shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, which controlled more than $40 billion in government spending in fiscal year 2023. One of USAID's portfolios was to promote religious freedom and advance it as a major, bipartisan foreign policy priority of the United States. Vance said the administration moved to stop the misuse of some funds. 'In recent years, too often, our nation's international engagement on religious liberty issues has been corrupted and distorted to the point of absurdity,' he said. 'Think about this: How did America get to the point where we're sending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars abroad to NGOs that are dedicated to spreading atheism all over the globe? 'That is not what leadership on protecting the rights of the faithful looks like, and it ends with this administration.' The message resonated with Gordon Klingenschmitt of Pray in Jesus Name Ministries. He called the talk a 'home run.' 'This is one of the first big conferences in Washington after the new Congress and new administration are sworn in, and the people who organized this had this kind of energy in mind, and the crowd is jazzed. The crowd is fired up. We're ready to win, and we can't get enough of it,' Klingenschmitt said. He supported Trump's blanket funding freeze. 'I agree with pausing all of it until Marco Rubio, who's now acting director of USAID, sorts it out,' Klingenschmitt said. 'He is the right person for that job. He's a person of personal faith. He has the wisdom and insight to see which are real development projects ... and which ones are just wasting our money.' Vance praised Trump for nominating Rubio as secretary of state. 'I believe he is one of the great living champions of religious liberty across the globe, a person whose dedication to religious liberty flows from his faith in the same way that mine does,' Vance said. Vance said the guiding principle will be that the source of religious liberty is a recognition that all are equal under the rights and laws of God. 'We remain the world's largest majority Christian country, and the right to religious freedom is protected by the people for everybody, whether you're a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim or no faith at all,' he said. The vice president said he grew up in a family that did not attend church regularly but recalled the deep impact it made on him when it did. 'The church was a place, it still is, where people of different races, different backgrounds, different walks of life came together in commitment to their shared communities and forcing commitment to their God,' he said. 'It was a place where the CEO of a company and the worker of a company stood equal before their worship of God. It was a place where people united, not just in the pews, but in acts of service, on mission trips, charity drives and in rallying around one another in times of sickness or grief or, of course, in celebration of new life. 'Are these not the kinds of bonds and virtues [that] lawmakers today should strive to cultivate? Well, I'm pleased to say that they certainly were in the first Trump administration, and they will be even more so in the second.' Vance said religious liberty is about more than legal safeguards. 'It is also about fostering a culture in which faith can thrive, so that men and women can fully appreciate and respect the God-given rights of their fellow citizens.' He said religious liberty calls people to kindness. 'We know in America, faith nurtures our communities,' he said. 'At home and abroad, it fosters a love for one's neighbors, it inspires generosity and purpose, it calls us to treat one another with dignity, to lift up those in need, and to build nations grounded in moral principle.' Vance called for unified work for religious liberty. 'I pray that together, we will be able to better protect the dignity of all peoples, as well as the rights of all believers to practice their faith according to the dictates of their confidence,' he said. 'So thank you all for your work in preserving religious liberty. Thank you for safeguarding the rights of faith communities across the globe, and thank you most of all for believing, because we know that the source of religious liberty is the recognition that all of us are equal under the rights and laws of God, and that principle will guide us in the years to come.'
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
At major religion summit, faithful wonder and worry what Trump will do as Vance speech looms
WASHINGTON —Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to speak Wednesday at IRF Summit 2025, billed as 'the largest religious freedom gathering in the world, ever,' by co-founder Sam Brownback, the former U.S. senator and ambassador at large for religious freedom. The faithful who are gathered in Washington, D.C. are looking forward to Vance's speech. They said they aren't sure what to expect from a second Trump administration, but believe he will continue to champion religious freedom generally. The question is will his efforts to secure America's borders eclipse one of their most important issues. 'I know a lot of people are worried right now about what happens with refugees and what the administration is doing,' Baptist Pastor Bob Roberts told a crowd of 500 on Monday night at the Global Faith Forum, which he led. 'There's a lot of concern over that, and I have concerns over that. But let me make something very clear: As people of faith, we still should be caring for refugees, he said as part of the IRF Summit. The issues involved couldn't be more crucial, for believers and nonbelievers, who in some countries face punishment for leaving the majority or state religion. Over the past two decades, extreme poverty has been cut by 75%, but the number of displaced people has jumped 300%, World Relief president Myal Greene said. Meanwhile, the number of countries where freedom of religion or belief doesn't exist or severely restricted has grown from 27 to 40, said Freedom House interim co-president Annie Wilcox Boyajian. 'Souls are at stake,' Brownback said. Another leader said he believes Trump wants to build peace. 'I think the president does not just want to end conflicts, but I think he also wants to be a peacemaker,' said Scott Flipse, director of policy and media relations for the bipartisan Congressional Executive Commission on China. Flipse hoped the Trump administration will continue to keep the ambassador at large for religious freedom at the table when major world issues are discussed so the role of faith is central in bridge-building and solutions. 'I don't want to be pollyannish about this, but there is a role here for religious groups, religious organizations and people of faith to build peace. I think the president wants to do that. I think this is a pretty a big goal for religious freedom in the future,' he said. Trump's new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is a man of faith who served as co-chair of a previous IRF Summit. One leader told the Deseret News there is confidence in Rubio's understanding of the issues and excitement to introduce Vance to the summit's work, who participants Brownback called 'the heart and nerve center of the religious freedom movement around the world.' Flipse said he would counsel Rubio that personnel is policy and to move quickly with the White House to place people in positions in bureaus to carry out his priorities and whatever reevalutions the administration is undertaking. Boyajian said Rubio has been incredible on religious freedom issues as she has worked closely with him and his staff. She said she would urge him 'not to throw the baby out with the bath water.' 'There's so much excellent work on religious freedom being done,' she said. 'It's very, very critically important that it make it through an expeditious review, because lives really are on the line. The second thing I would add is that he's a man of faith. For me, personally, as a Christian, we as believers, it's so important that we're advocating for religious freedom. Every single human being is precious and made in the image of God, and in my personal view, it is incumbent on us to also help protect others who are targeted and bring them along also. Beasley's suggestions for Rubio are to focus on the big things that matter, be authentic and show your heart. 'Be yourself,' he said. 'He's a man with a good heart, great faith and leaders read your heart. Body language is vital. How you touch, embrace, hug, respect the other is powerful. Body language is the most powerful thing in these meetings. ... First make a connection from the heart. That begins the ball game. 'Our governments teach, 'Let's have an agreement, then we'll be friends.' Faith says, 'Be friends, then you'll have long-lasting agreements.' There's a difference.' World Relief's Greene said the freeze on immigration is delaying the legal arrival of refugees who the government has already scrutinized and approved. 'It's unfortunate that individuals who are refugees, who are fully vetted and screened by the government, they're legal immigrants, most of them come to this country on a plane with a visa, are being denied their benefits, denied their opportunity to adjust right now,' he said. Most of them are from the countries that Open Door has listed as the places where Christians and others are most persecuted, Greene said. 'This is the only legal avenue for people who are persecuted for their faith to enter this country in meaningful numbers, and that door has been closed in this season,' he said. 'I think that's something that we really need to see and that we care about. As a Christian, care about people of all faiths who are persecuted because of their beliefs, and what that means, and I think that we need to stand together and show our support for people who are looking for safety for their family and a chance to raise their family and in a safe community that wants to welcome them after communities they've lived in have forced them out.' The networks growing at these religious freedom conferences need to move forward together regardless of the administration's direction, said Pastor Roberts, the Global Senior Pastor at Northwood Church in Dallas and co-founder of the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network. 'Whatever the administration does is what they do,' he said. 'God hasn't changed his mind about who he loves and what he expects of those of us he is blessed, and so we must be a blessing.' Roberts pleaded with believers to united in love for one another so they can continue to grow as a force to love and help others. 'Our country is in a tough spot,' he said. 'I don't know who you voted for. It doesn't matter. No matter who won, we were going to have some challenges in our country. Here's what I want to say to you: If our country turns a corner and things get better, it's not going to be because we elect the right person. It's going to be because we start acting like the right people. 'I challenge you, don't wait for an election to do the right thing. You're Americans, and that's enough. Act like Americans — e pluribus unum — out of many, one. Now go love somebody different than you. Let them know you care about them, and let's make a different country and a different world.'
