Global Religious Freedom, A Conversation with Former Congressman Frank Wolf

The Global Liberty Alliance Podcast with Jason Poblete

Retired Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has dedicated his life to public service, particularly in defense of fundamental human rights and religious freedom. In this podcast, GLA President Jason Poblete talks with Mr. Wolf on a variety of religious freedom issues such as the persecuted churches in Nigeria, China, and the Middle East.

Working across party lines Congressman Wolf helped lead the effort to enact the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. In 2016, the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act was enacted. It amended the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) to state in the congressional findings that the freedom of thought and religion is understood to protect theistic and non-theistic beliefs as well as the right not to profess or practice any religion." The 2016 law amended IRFA in several ways including requiring the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom to report directly to the Secretary of State. This reporting structure was implicit in IRFA (1998) but clarified by the 2016 Amendment as not every Secretary of State had respected this arrangement.

The 2016 amendment also established an "entities of particular concern" list, a companion to the "countries of particular concern" classification for non-government actors, such as the Islamic State (IS), the Nigerian terrorist organization Boko Haram, and Houthis. The amended act institutes a "designated persons list" for individuals who violate religious freedom and authorizes the President to issue sanctions against those who participate in persecution. Both of these provisions were already contained in the IRFA legislation (Section 402(2)) but are further detailed in what has been called the Wolf Amendment to IRFA.

Wolf represented Virginia's 10th Congressional District from 1981 until 2015. Wolf entered politics in 1968, at the age of 29, when he became a legislative assistant to Edward Biester, the Republican congressman from Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district. From 1971 to 1975, Wolf served as an assistant to Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton. Wolf has traveled extensively to places around the world where people are suffering, including five times to Sudan since 1989. He has advocated for relief from the Darfur genocide and other cases of genocide. He has also convened conferences in his district to address human rights issues around the world. Wolf has vocally criticized the human rights record of China and has championed human rights for religious minorities and other believers the world over. You can read more about Wolf's remarkable career here.

Further Reading

• Prisoner of Conscience: One Man's Crusade for Global Human and Religious Rights, Frank Wolf (Amazon).
• "Fired for Liking a Tweet on Tibet, US Worker Feels China’s Reach," Voice of America (Mar. 31, 2018).
• "Stop the Christian Genocide in Nigeria," Frank Wolf and Toufic Baaklini, National Catholic Register (Feb. 26, 2020).
• Christian Persecution at All-Time High, Say Experts at Alexandria Conference," Arlington Catholic Herald (Sept. 16, 2020).

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