Their Brothers' Keepers: The conservative shade of human-rights activists

National Review, June 30, 2003 by Kate O'Beirne

History teaches that where religious freedom exists, liberalization and democracy take root. In recognition of this fact, and given the resurgence of religious conflict in the post-Cold War world, Hertzke believes that religious liberty should be a key goal of foreign policy. Indeed, many non-Christians understand that promoting religious liberty benefits believers and non-believers alike. Hertzke points to David Saperstein, the liberal leader of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and an active member of the coalition to fight Christian persecution, and to former New York Times executive editor A. M. Rosenthal, who wrote a dozen columns in 1997 alone calling attention to the plight of Christians. Hertzke concludes, "There is a greater antipathy between some mainline religious leaders and evangelicals than between evangelicals and Jewish leaders."

He offers a number of reasons why liberal Christians have largely ignored the issue of religious persecution. First, they are uneasy about strengthening religious believers anywhere, especially Christians -- a legacy of the Enlightenment view that religion has been at the root of persecution from the distant past to the present day (from Torquemada to the Taliban, one might say). The feminist conviction, shared by many liberals, that traditional religious believers and the patriarchal West pose the most alarming threat to freedom was captured in the motto of the 2002 International Women's Day: "Afghanistan Is Everywhere."

Second, liberals are deeply suspicious of the motives of the despised "Religious Right." In a 1997 New York Times column, Anthony Lewis perfectly reflected liberal animosity to religious conservatives when he dismissed the efforts of evangelical proponents of religious liberty as a self-interested appeal in behalf of their coreligionists. He accused them of mounting the campaign "to advance their cause of giving religion a prime role in the American political structure."

Untroubled by the Left's attempts to undermine them, conservative Christian human-rights groups continue to fight for the world's most defenseless and imperiled peoples. In January 1996, Michael Horowitz of the Hudson Institute and Nina Shea of Freedom House organized a conference on "Global Persecution of Christians." That same year, 5,000 churches observed an International Day of Prayer organized by Christian groups and ministries. Two years later, 100,000 churches participated. Fueled by the energy of the evangelical grassroots, and mobilized through religious newsletters and radio stations, this successful coalition has commanded congressional action despite the hostility of the mainstream media and mainline churches. For worldwide victims of persecution, this faith-based movement has been an answer to their prayers.