Source: www.MNNonline.org
Date: April 23, 2025
International (MNN) — The current U.S. administration reiterated its commitment to religious freedom by nominating an ambassador at large to the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom earlier this month.
If confirmed by the senate, former pastor Mark Walker will be working closely with the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on issues recommended for closer scrutiny.
USCIRF released its annual report in late March, among other things recommending four new countries (Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Vietnam) be designated as Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs).
“It will be interesting to see how this new administration receives these recommendations, and which ones they say, ‘Yep, that’s exactly right,’ and which ones they decide not to go along with,” says Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA.
(Image courtesy United States Commission on International Religious Freedom)
“Part of [the State Department’s] job is to talk about religious freedom. But they also, obviously, they want to keep trade relationships good. They want to keep military relationships good. So they kind of factor in a lot more angles into the equation.
“Ultimately, it is the State Department list that really matters as far as teeth, because if a country is identified as a Country of Particular Concern by the State Department, then the administration has a whole tool box of potential actions that would sort of try to nudge or encourage or force that Country of Particular Concern to improve their status on religious freedom.”
But will recent cuts in USAID projects decrease the “carrot and stick” leverage the U.S. has with nations around the world?
“I think it’s going to be something that we have to kind of wait and see and then look backwards and say, ‘Oh, wow, that, that may have been an unintended consequence to decisions that were made in Washington, D.C.,’” says Nettleton.
In the meantime, Nettleton notes something else USCIRF’s 2025 report hints at.
“When you see four countries recommended to be added to the CPC list, [and] you don’t see any countries recommended to be taken off of the CPC list, it does tend to support that view that religious freedom is getting worse instead of getting better around the world,” he says.
Learn how to pray for persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ with Voice of the Martyrs at persecution.com. There you’ll find a global prayer map where many of the U.S.’s designated Countries of Particular Concern are also listed. Click to learn more!
“Educating yourself to be able to pray more effectively is a great way to stand with our brothers and sisters who suffer for the name of Jesus,” Nettleton says.
Header photo courtesy of Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons – Department of State Sign – Harry S. Truman Building – Washington D.C., CC BY 2.0.