Wu Challenges Obama and McCain to Stand Up for Religious Freedom

Jul 17, 2008

Angela C. Wu, international law director at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, today (July 17, 2008) challenged U.S. presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain to support legislation currently before Congress that is designed to protect Americans from defamation judgments of foreign courts that violate the U.S. Constitution.  The legislation would protect individuals who are charged with what are essentially blasphemy laws that protect religions from so-called defamation.
 
"Freedom of religion and the freedom to speak openly about ideas and beliefs here and abroad should be a high priority for the next president of the United States," said Ms. Wu, speaking before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus' conference on "Religious Freedom in a Post-9-11 World.  "I call on Sens. Obama and McCain to take a stand for a traditional American understanding of free speech rights and sponsor this legislation in the Senate," she said.
 
Ms. Wu said if "defamation of religions" resolutions currently before the United Nations went into effect in member states, any religious speech another group or individual found "offensive" could be criminalized.
 
"The U.N. resolutions establish the ability to sue for “defamatory” speech of an idea rather than a person. Criticizing any religion, saying the Prophet Mohamed is not a prophet, or Jesus did not come to redeem sins, could offend someone and be a cause of action," said Miss Wu.  But Ms. Wu said that Rep. Steve Cohen, Tennessee Democrat, and 16 co-sponsors have proposed legislation to thwart the U.N. proposals, as well as the blasphemy and “hate speech” laws already in the books in much of Europe and the Middle East.
 
At this time there is no similar legislation before the Senate.
 
Rep. Cohen's HR 6146 "Amends the federal judicial code to prohibit a domestic court from recognizing or enforcing a foreign judgment concerning defamation unless the domestic court determines that the foreign judgment is consistent with the First Amendment to the Constitution."
 
Others on the panel agreed with Ms. Wu, and challenged the presidential candidates to go even farther.
 
"The next president needs to be fully in touch with the issue of international religious freedom," said Ambassador Robert Seiple, president of the Council of America's First Freedom and the first U.S. ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom. "Religious freedom needs to be on the front burner of the president elect."
 
Jeremy Gunn, the director of Freedom of Religion and Belief at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the next president, secretary of state and the State Department must fully integrate religious freedom as a part of American foreign policy.  "The next Secretary of State should identify religious freedom as an important issue, not separate from other human rights," he said.
 
Ms. Wu also testified on the "defamation of religion" issue at hearings before the Congressional Task Force for International Religious Freedom Friday, July 11, 2008.
 
"Defamation typically protects an individual from untrue statements," Ms. Wu said at that briefing. "Defamation of religion protects an idea, and the state becomes the arbiter of the ideas that can be accepted in the public square. The state would determine what is good theology and bad theology....  We don't want a jurisprudence of hurt feelings," she said.

The Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a nonpartisan, interfaith, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions.

To arrange an interview with a Becket Fund attorney, contact Tom Carter at 202-349-7205, or 202-538-2044 (cell) or becketfund.carter@gmail.com.

For more information about The Becket Fund visit www.becketfund.org.