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The proposed amendments ultimately did not become law. I cannot say whether the OSCE panel or the U.S. statement influenced anyone. But from my experience during the past 10 years, in dozens of similar meetings and conferences, I do know that the government most consistently and productively involved with promoting freedom of religion is that of the United States.

In my work outside of the United States, I have never heard a local human-rights activist, a local religious-freedom activist, or a local religious believer advocate harsh denunciations of their governments or the use of sanctions to promote religious freedom. While such rhetoric and recommendations seem to thrive in the Washington political world, they are alien in the world where people's lives are on the line.

Our policies will ultimately be measured by their effectiveness and not by the harshness of our rhetoric. The truth must be spoken, and spoken clearly. But the problems of intolerance and the suppression of human rights are so serious that we err when we use religious persecution as a wedge to divide Americans and to dismiss the hard work of committed people.

Denunciation and punishment sometimes have their place, but only after careful and rational thought and never simply as a reaction. Our goal must be to evaluate and implement what actually works, and to use all proper means at our disposal to serve those who suffer for what they believe and for who they are.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

This article is the second part of a debate from our March issue. The first article in the debate appeared on our site yesterday:

Cry Freedom | Forget 'quiet diplomacy'—it doesn't work.

The debate was inspired by two "Speaking Out" articles written for ChristianityToday.com:

The USCIRF Is Only Cursing the Darkness | The increasingly irrelevant U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom seems intent on attacking even those countries making improvements. (Oct. 16, 2002)

USCIRF's Concern Is To Help All Religious Freedom Victims | The chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom responds to Robert Seiple's claims that it is "only cursing the darkness." (Nov. 7, 2002)

For more articles, see Christianity Today's Persecution archive.

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March 2003, Vol. 47, No. 3