To provide for the establishment of the Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia.

Throughout September, the Center for Inquiry urged all members of the U.S. House of Representatives to reject efforts by religious right groups to introduce amendments to the Fiscal Year 2014 spending bill or continuing resolution that give preferential treatment to their religious beliefs. In particular, religious right groups wanted an amendment allowing that would allow employers to block employees access to birth control. Congress agreed on October 16 to a spending bill that did not include any such amendments. On September 16 and 17, the Center for Inquiry lobbied to amend H.R. 301, a bill to create a special envoy within the State Department to promote the religious freedom of minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia. We sought two specific changes: additional language to specify that the term religious minorities includes non-religious persons (atheists, agnostics, humanists, skeptics); and additional language alongside the several instances of persecution against other religious minorities (Christians, Muslims, Jews, Bahais) detailing cases of persecution against non-religious persons. The offices we lobbied included Rep. Frank Wolf, Rep. Anna Eshoo, Rep. Rush Holt, and Rep. Trent Franks. The full House approved the bill on Sept. 17 without these changes. On September 26, the Center for Inquiry joined more than a dozen individuals and organizations in writing to leaders in the United States government with specific recommendations to more effectively address the recent crackdown on civil society and religious freedom in Russia. U.S. government leaders receiving the letter include President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Suzan Johnson Cook, the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees and their relevant subcommittees, the Chairs and Co-Chairs of U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.S. Helsinki Commission, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and the International Religious Freedom Caucus.