Trump promotes religious freedom in UN speech

President Trump on Monday decried religious intolerance during a speech at the United Nations in which he called on world leaders to not persecute people over their faith.

“The United States is founded on the principle that our rights do not come from government, they come from God. This immortal truth is proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence and enshrined in our First Amendment to our Constitution, Bill of Rights,” the president said.

“Our founders understood that no right is more fundamental to a peaceful, prosperous and virtuous society than the right to follow one’s religious convictions. Regrettably, religious freedom enjoyed by American citizens is rare in the world,” he continued.

Trump said it was an “urgent moral duty” for world leaders to stop crimes against faith, release prisoners of conscience and repeal laws restricting religious liberty.

“Approximately 80 percent of the world population live in countries where religious liberties are threatened, restricted or even banned. When I heard that number I said, ‘Please go back and check because it can’t possibly be correct.’ Sadly, it was: 80 percent,” Trump told the Religious Freedom Summit at the UN.

“As we speak, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, many other people of faith are being jailed, sanctioned, tortured and even murdered even at the hands of their own government simply for expressing their deeply held religious beliefs,” he said, calling on world leaders to be more tolerant.

The president then cited a number of cases of terrorism and violence in which targets have been chosen because of religion, such as the mosque shootings in New Zealand, and he announced that the United States will contribute $25 million to help protect religious relics and promote religious freedom.

Trump’s speech extends a long-running focus on international religious freedom that speaks to a key priority of his evangelical base. His administration has hosted annual meetings on the topic in Washington, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced during this year’s event that he would ­create an international alliance on the issue.

One prominent evangelical backer, Dallas-based pastor Robert Jeffress, lauded Trump for focusing on religious freedom instead of climate change.

“What president in history would have the guts to do what President Trump is doing?” Jeffress said on Fox News.

“And it’s this kind of leadership that is absolutely infuriating the president’s enemies, but it’s also energizing his base, especially his religious base of voters.”

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24 September, 2019

Accommodating free speech in Millennium Park

There are many lovely parks in Chicago and its suburbs, but there is only one Millennium Park. It’s among the most popular tourist destinations in the entire Midwest, attracting some 25 million visitors a year. Many of those people take time to gaze at the iconic Cloud Gate sculpture, affectionately known as The Bean.

Among the visitors has been a group of Wheaton College students who think the park, and the area around The Bean, is a good place to do something they see as a duty: sharing their Christian faith by talking to people and handing out literature. But when they tried it last year, park employees told them they were violating park rules. Those rules allow “the making of speeches and the passing out of written communications” in only one small part of the park, as well as on the sidewalks.

Since then, the students have done their evangelizing elsewhere. But they have also filed a lawsuit against the city of Chicago, which they say is violating their First Amendment rights of free speech and free exercise of religion. “The Bean is one of the highest tourist attractions in the United States ... that’s where you want to get your message out,” the plaintiffs’ attorney, John Mauck, told the Tribune.

The students have a plausible case — up to a point. Public parks, the Supreme Court noted in 1939, “have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public and, time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions.”

In such spaces, you don’t need to get a permit, pay a fee or rent a hall. You can just show up and convey your message to anyone who is open to it. Others in the park are free to ignore you, argue with you or walk away.

The city, however, has tried to seal this site off from such activities. It divides Millennium Park into 11 sections — and tolerates free communication in just one of them, in the northwest corner. So some 90% of the space, including The Bean — is off-limits to anyone with a message to share.

The city’s policy, in seeking to ban speech activity in nearly all of the park, is too strict and appears to run afoul of the First Amendment. The city already bans loudspeakers and bullhorns, and it certainly has the right to police noise and conduct in spaces where musical or other performances are taking place. Before the city can forbid free expression in a public space, it needs a good reason — and it needs to “leave open ample alternative means for communication of the information,” as the Supreme Court has stipulated.

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