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On October 2, the USCIRF issued a four-point set of policy recommendations to former Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.), the U.S. envoy to Sudan. The recommendations said that in order to uphold "basic human rights and religious freedom," the Bush administration must demand that Sudan agree to a cease-fire, lift food-relief bans, and commit to peace talks.

Diane Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, told CT that without knowing all the information, Christians are not able to judge the government's balancing of human rights and security.

"We are not in a position to second-guess the decision-makers unless we are privy to the intelligence information as they are," Knippers said. "Our government has a moral obligation to national security right now."

Knippers said if the U.S. could hypothetically obtain the names of individuals planning another attack, "then of course, we need those names. If that means holding the Sudan Peace Act for a year, then that is what we have to do to protect ourselves."

The Christian role now is to keep religious liberty in the picture, she said. "The government must know there is a strong constituency that cares about this and then it will strengthen their hand to do so," Knippers said.

Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, now head of American Values, hopes the State Department will realize the war on terrorism can only be won with human rights as a central part of foreign policy.

He compared the current situation to the World War II alliance with Communist Russia. "Then, there was no question that the Soviet Union was on our side," Bauer said. "Today, places like Sudan are clearly on the side of the terrorists. Fooling ourselves by making inappropriate concessions to include them in an alliance doesn't make sense."

"What I hope is going to happen is that people will realize through this that the best long-time defense against actions like this is freedom of conscience and religious freedom," he said.

USCIRF's Goodrich said that fighting terrorism and promoting human rights are closely connected. "Countries where there is religious tolerance and freedom are not countries harboring terrorists," he said. "Thus the idea that we can engage in this conflict without relating it to core values is mistaken."

Seiple told CT that the September 11 attacks only made religious freedom more relevant.

"What we know for sure—if we didn't before—was that people are willing to die for their faith and kill for their religion," Seiple said. "But yet we ignore it all for geopolitical relations. We need to understand religion. It should be front and center in policy discussions now."

There's more at risk than broad policy questions, though, said Mark Albrecht, moderator of the World Evangelical Fellowship Religious Liberty Commission. Individual lives hang in the balance.

Since 1996, Ayub Masih has been languishing in a Pakistan prison on blasphemy charges. His case has reached the Pakistani Supreme Court. The Religious Liberty Commission had launched a letter-writing campaign. But after September 11, it is hard to cultivate interest in Masih's struggle.

"I hope we can do something, but I fear that the Pakistani Supreme Court put it on the back burner and shut off the stove," Albrecht said.

Voice of the Martyrs' Lane told CT that perhaps Americans will now be more aware of international terror.

"We are praying that we will wake up and see that … this is what Christians live with every day," Lane told CT. "Six thousand were killed here in one day, but people have lived with this in Sudan for 18 years, and 2 million have died. We have to say, 'Hey, America, this is a taste of what the world lives with.'"

Todd Hertz is the Assistant Online Editor for Christianity Today.

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October (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45