Senate confirms Cook for religious freedom post
A New York minister will soon fill the Obama administration's
long-vacant position to oversee international issues of religious
freedom. The Senate voted April 14 to confirm Suzan Johnson Cook for the
post.
The vote, coming after a lengthy and controversial
nomination process, positions Cook to become the first female and the
first African American in the post.
"I am . . . persuaded in my
mind, heart, and soul that religious freedom is the birthright of all
people everywhere; a foundation of civil society, a key to international
security, and it must always be a pillar of U.S. foreign policy," she
said in a statement.
Cook was nominated last June, but her
nomination stalled in the Senate and expired in December. Despite
concerns that she might not have enough diplomatic experience, Cook was
renominated in February and appeared at a second nomination hearing in
late March.
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The Baptist minister known as "Dr. Sujay" retired in
2009 as pastor of Bronx Christian Fellowship Church, which she founded
in 1996. She was the first woman elected to lead the prominent Hampton
University Minister's Conference of black clergy.
During hearings,
she cited her travels and interfaith work on five continents and her
experience as a New York police chaplain as qualifications for the
ambassadorial post.
The independent U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom welcomed Cook as the third ambassador to
oversee international religious liberty. "We look forward to meeting
her and working jointly toward our mutual goal of advancing freedom of
religion or belief around the world," said Leonard Leo, USCIRF chair.
At
Cook's second hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) cited unspecified "indications" that Cook
lacked qualifications for the job. "I am concerned about a person in
this position having the passion, the courage and the boldness to deal
with this issue," he said at the time. Other committee members,
meanwhile, praised Cook for her "wonderful résumé" and called her "a
strong advocate and not a shrinking violet."
In March, concerned
about the position's lengthy vacancy, a coalition of religious freedom
advocates urged greater attention to the religious roots of global
conflict, especially the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East and violence
directed against religious minorities.
"At present, both American
diplomats and foreign governments are justified in concluding that
neither the position nor the policy is a high priority for the United
States," they wrote in a letter to leaders of the Senate committee.
Cook herself said at an April 5 dinner of religious liberty advocates in Washington: "This will go down in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest nomination. But we thank God to just be in the number." —RNS
