Pray for Governor Brownback in his new position as U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom. Join us today at 1215 pm ET on our First Friday Prayer Conference Call to pray with him about religious freedom here and around the world.

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Gal 5:1)

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The mainstream national media downplayed a tie-breaking Senate vote by Vice President Mike Pence last week that has major ramification for persecuted minorities worldwide.

The vote confirmed Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as the Trump administration’s U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom.

In a culture that increasingly marginalizes religion, the appointment may seem trivial. Don’t be fooled.

Brownback’s job is not to promote religion. It is to defend religious liberty as the most fundamental component of the quest for world peace.

Religious freedom, as protected domestically in the First Amendment of the Constitution, means all are free to believe as they choose. It allows all to embrace or reject belief in one god, many gods or no god.

Without religious liberty, we cannot have avowed atheists, secularists, Buddhists, Baptists, Catholics, Jews, Satanists, Muslims or others openly expressing, practicing and standing for their beliefs. We cannot have diversity and peace….

The nondenominational mission Open Doors reports 215 million Christians – 1 in 12 – experience high levels of persecution worldwide. During the most recent annual reporting period, the organization documented 3,066 Christians killed for their beliefs; 1,252 abducted and imprisoned or detained; and 1,020 raped or sexually harassed. Enemies of Christianity attacked nearly 800 churches in the past one year of data collection….

The absence of religious liberty, as shown by Islamic oppression, allows abuse of gays and others with sexual orientations or lifestyles that do not comport with a theocracy’s values. It means the absence of equality for women and ethnic minorities. Without religious freedom, individuals have no voice in government, they lack property rights, and have no reasonable access to participation in civic life.

Brownback will advance world peace if he advocates foreign policies that promote the freedom to openly exercise any peaceful religious belief, on nonbelief, on every square inch of the planet.

Freedom, at its core, requires defense of individuals to believe and worship as they choose. Anything else leads to oppression, violence and death. That is why religious liberty became the first order of business in our country’s First Amendment. (Excerpts from The Gazette editorial board in The Gazette)