July 30, 2021, Washington, DC — The Biden Administration has nominated Rashad Hussain to be the Ambassador at large for Religious Freedom.
Ambassador Rashad Hussain is my fellow Texan, and I have known him for the last thirteen years from Dallas, Texas. As an Indian American, I’m delighted with his nomination. Since I am deeply involved in Religious Freedom, Human Rights, and pluralism in religion, politics, society, and the workplace, his nomination makes a lot of sense to me. I thank President Biden for making the right choice and congratulate Rashad Hussain.
On behalf of the Center for Pluralism, I appreciate the work of his predecessors Ambassador David Saperstein, Ambassador Sam Brownback, and Sada Cumber as the Ambassador to OIC – all of whom I know personally and admire for the work they have done.
Ambassador Rashad Hussain had served as the Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in the Obama Administration.
Let’s hope the religious and non-religious communities around the world breathe freely. The United States has stood up for the human rights and religious freedom of all people. It is time to press on the violators of religious freedom around the world.
Let freedom of religion, assembly, and speech prevail. Let every human being have the choice to eat, drink, wear and believe whatever suits them in the pursuit of their happiness.
We hope Secretary Tony Blinken and President Biden take on the pending recommendations made by USCIRF in designating India as the Country of Particular Concern.
The CPC designation will help the Modi government get its act together and hopefully restore India’s pluralistic ethos so that all Indians can have a sigh of relief.
The community of nations should not forget that America’s prosperity has depended hugely on religious freedom. When people feel secure about their faith, they work and devote 100% of their minds and produce with all their heart, mind, and soul. When they go home, they will also give 100% of their attention to the family members. When the elected representatives remove the tensions for their citizens from work and home, they feel secure and happy.
What a beautiful model America offers to the world to emulate. Every Atheist, Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Confucius, Hindu, Jain, Jew, LGBTQ, Muslim, Native American, Sikh, Shinto, Tao, Wicca, Zoroastrian, and others living in the United States contributes to its prosperity – because they are free. Let Modi pattern after America and restore the damage he has done to India, a glorious nation and become a model nation to the developing countries.
I urge the United States government to levy penalties on the individuals who have messed up our dear motherland India and have violated the religious freedoms of fellow Indians, thus messed up the country badly.
There is a saying that evil exists because good people do nothing about it. Let’s be good people and take the necessary actions. Justice always prevails in the end. That’s the promise of the creator.
We also appreciate the appointment of Khizr Khan to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. He is the man who lives by our constitution and carries it in his pocket and had famously pulled it out of his pocket, asking if we had read it.
Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker, author, pluralist, and interfaith wedding officiant. He is the President of the Center for Pluralism and a director at the World Muslim Congress. He offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day to the policymakers and the media. More about him at TheGhousediary.com