Leonard Leo, a former USCIRF commissioner who was at the summit, identified places in the world where state actors continue to persecute their people with impunity. Such recent instances of religious violence are “shocking in their severity and breadth.” Leo also noted that less visible, creeping violations are happening in our own backyard. He warned: “How can we lecture states on repealing their blasphemy laws when we give authorities broad tools to prevent religious speech that fails to conform to the official view of what it means to be a good citizen?” Robert George, another former USCIRF commissioner and a professor at Princeton University, highlighted the importance of cooperation among leaders of various religions and governments to transform civil society. He pointed to the adoption of the “Marrakesh declaration,” which recognizes the rights of non-Muslims in Muslim countries, as a recent and important example of such cooperative efforts. George, like Leo, warned of growing secularism in West, which often functions as a religion. While the rights of secularists should most certainly be recognized, George insisted, we need a “fair playing field” on which comprehensive world views can compete and interact. If any particular worldview, be it secularist or religious, declares itself to be “umpire” and not a “contestant,” it very likely will “call balls and strikes” in a way that is favorable to itself.
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