Allegations of religious bias are being leveled against a federal body responsible for monitoring international religious freedom.
Some past commissioners, staff and former staff of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom say that behind the scenes, the agency charged with advising the president and Congress is rife with ideology, tribalism, and commissioners focusing on pet projects often based on their own religious background. In particular, critics see an anti-Muslim bias – a charge denied by its chairman, Leonard Leo.
"I don't know of any other organization who defends as many Muslims in the world as we do," said Leo, appointed by George W. Bush in 2007.
Nevertheless, the commission was hit this fall with an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint filed by a former policy analyst, Safiya Ghori-Ahmad, who alleges her contract was canceled because of her Muslim faith and her affiliation with a Muslim advocacy group.
Rumors about infighting and ineffectiveness have swirled for years around the commission, created by Congress in 1998 as part of the International Religious Freedom Act. The legislation, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, was championed primarily by Christian groups, along with people of Jewish, Baha'i and other faiths, to get the government to pay more attention to religious persecution overseas and be an advocate for religious freedom in its foreign policy.
The commission's nine members, who are appointed by the president and congressional leaders of both parties, include two Catholics, two evangelical Protestants, one Southern Baptist, one Orthodox Christian, one Jew and one Muslim, with one vacancy. Its $4.3 million budget is used to research religious discrimination abroad, take fact-finding trips, hold public hearings, write an annual report, make policy recommendations and put out press releases.
Critics say the commission has disproportionately focused its efforts on the persecution of Christians while too often ignoring other religious communities and downplaying their claims of persecution.
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