The awesome power of God is on display in this Sunday's readings. The U.S. State Department is going out of its way to assure observers that the most powerful nation on earth takes religion seriously, making it a growing priority for U.S. diplomacy.

As an example of the new stance, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Istanbul recently promoted a new U.S.-backed international agreement to protect freedom of speech and religion, an accord described by her department as a "landmark" change. "These are fundamental freedoms that belong to all people in all places," Clinton said, "and they are certainly essential to democracy."

Clinton said the U.N. Human Rights Council’s resolution “calls upon states to protect freedom of religion, to counter offensive expression through education, interfaith dialogue, and public debate, and to prohibit discrimination, profiling, and hate crimes, but not to criminalize speech unless there is an incitement to imminent violence.”

Elsewhere in the State Department the school for foreign fervice officers rolled out a new seminar last month on how diplomats can practice "religious engagement." Thomas Farr, director of the Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs, welcomed the new approach. Farr, a former diplomat, was an instructor at the Foreign Service Institute's three-day seminar on religion and diplomacy.

In addition, the National Security Council is touting a new partnership with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that represents a "renewed focus on the intersection of religion and foreign policy across the United States government," announced Faith-Based director Joshua DuBois earlier this month.

Sources: Articles by Nicole Gaouette for Bloomberg.com, Ecumenical
News Service, and Lauren Markoe for Religion News Service