Teaching Tolerance

Why is religious freedom so important?

Religious freedom is not just freedom to worship in a religious building, this principle supports and protects people’s rights to live as themselves, peacefully and publicly . Widespread religious freedom would ensure no individual or group would have to deny their core values or beliefs to adhere to culture, or government . Every individual deserves the right to their own values and beliefs, no government, nor individual should be able to hinder this.

USIDHR participates in the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, an informal group of individuals from non-governmental organizations who gather regularly to discuss issues on religious freedom. The group meets on Capitol Hill regularly. Besides representatives of all faiths and none and representatives of the civil society, in the meeting also participates, the Ambassador at large for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback from the U.S. State Department and diplomats.

IRF Roundtable Washington DC proved to be a successful model that is now being replicated across the world. So far, 19 countries and regions have adopted the model and organized IRF Roundtable. The President of USIDHR, Manuel Oancia helped bring the project IRF Roundtable to Romania in 2019. He is currently working with government representatives and NGOs from Montenegro and Bulgaria to bring the project in these countries. The goal is to establish 100 such roundtables and it was launched by the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback at the Second Annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom.

What do we do?

The US Institute of Diplomacy and Human Rights is passionate about eradicating discrimination based-off of religious belief, providing specific training on how to combat anti-Semitism. We also work hard to advocate for the passing of legislation which will promote religious freedom and tolerance.

We have organised several events in order to emphasise the importance of religious freedom. These include the launching ceremony of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable Romania. The aim of this event was to form a global alliance between international governments and solidify the IRF roundtable campaign.

Furthermore, the USIDHR aided in the organisation of the largest Religious Freedom conference. The purpose of which was to promote religious freedom as a means of encouraging economic growth and stability.