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Senate adds religious freedom amendment to new trade pact
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The U.S. Senate last week unanimously passed an amendment calling on the government to weigh a nation's religious freedom picture when conducting trade deals. - photo by Mark A. Kellner
The U.S. Senate last week unanimously passed an amendment calling on the government to weigh a nation's religious freedom picture when conducting trade deals.

"We believe every person should have protection of the government to live (his) faith, not the compulsion of government to practice any one faith or to be forced to reject all faith altogether," Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who sponsored the amendment, said.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Lankford added, "We should encourage trade with another country when that country acknowledges our basic value of the dignity of every person to live their own faith."

The challenge of religious freedom overseas has long perplexed American officials. On the one hand, successive Republican- and Democratic-led administrations have sought to expand global trade, and President Obama is not alone in seeking "fast track" authority to arrange trade deals with overseas nations.

At the same time, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom as well as the Department of State have annually listed nations, such as Pakistan, China, and Vietnam among the more egregious violators of the religious freedom rights of their citizens.

"When people have freedom of conscience and faith, they are also better trading partners," Lankford asserted. "Their country is stable, their families are stable and their economy will grow."

A Washington-area group, the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, last year made the same assertion when it released a report about the interrelationship of religious freedom and business growth.

"Religious hostilities and restrictions create climates that can drive away local and foreign investment, undermine sustainable development and disrupt huge sectors of economies," the group said.

And while the amendment only requires the government to "take into consideration" a nation's religious freedom policies, Lankford told the Christian Post that Congress can have the "final word" on any trade deal.

"The only enforcement measure is when the trade agreement comes back (to Congress.) The TPA gives a set of instructions to the negotiators and says these are areas they need to take into account," Lankford explained. "If they are going to negotiate, they should should take into account the familiar language for a TPA agreement."

Despite the good intentions of the Lankford amendment, the overall trade bill may stall, World Magazine reported. The bill "faces a difficult road in the House, where members of both parties have expressed skepticism. House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the measures top advocate in the House, has predicted the chamber will have enough votes."
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