Senate bill number 2878 (Senate Companion Bill to H.R. 1150): The Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act may or may not make it to the floor for consideration before the Senate winds up its work this summer. You can change that by calling the Senate Foreign relations committee chairman Bob Corker and the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and asking that SB2878 be considered.
This bill would improve the way America can work for religion freedom internationally. We know the plight of persecuted Christians and other religious minorities around the world. We have the power to help but time is running out on the Senate docket so we need to act today. Here are the numbers:
Senate foreign relations committee chairman Corker: (202) 224-4651
Senate Majority leader McConnell: (202) 224-2541
Pew Research Center’s latest annual study on global restrictions on religion gives us reason to hope that things can change. The study reveals that worldwide, both government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion decreased modestly from 2013 to 2014 despite a rise in religion-related terrorism.
Their press release indicates that “this is the second year in a row the number of countries with this level of religious restrictions has declined, after three years of steady increases.”
However, the sobering reality remains that “roughly three-quarters of the world’s 7.2 billion people (74%) were living in countries with high or very high restrictions or hostilities in 2014.” The trend is in the right direction but much more work yet needs to be done.
You can help. Call Senator Bob Corker and Senator Mitch McConnell today and ask that SB2878 (companion to House resolution 1150) be considered before the fiscal year ends and the Senate breaks for the summer.
The findings can be found at http://www.pewforum.org/2016/06/23/trends-in-global-restrictions-on-religion
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take policy positions. The Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. This report was made possible by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which received support for the project from the John Templeton Foundation. Subscribe to our daily and weekly email newsletters or follow us on our Fact Tank blog.