Berkley Center

On June 5, the Berkley Center’s Strategic Religious Engagement (SRE) Hub convened nearly two dozen practitioners, religious leaders, academics, and former government officials in Washington, DC, for a discussion on the current state of the United States Government's (USG) capacity for strategic religious engagement in diplomacy, development, and defense. The purpose of the gathering was to take stock of the current state of SRE capacity across USG diplomacy, development, and defense, recognizing the profound and inevitable influence of religion globally and the vital role religious actors can play in achieving foreign policy outcomes. The gathering marked the first official convening of the Berkley Center’s new SRE Hub, established to serve as a space for preserving and advancing USG’s religious literacy and strategic capacity to engage with religious actors as part of its foreign policy efforts. 

Several key themes emerged from the roundtable discussion: 

1) In recent months, various challenges have hamstrung—but not decimated—the USG’s capacity to engage strategically with religious actors as an institutionalized component of foreign policymaking and programming. 

Actions taken in the first three months of this Trump administration have had a considerable impact on the capacity for SRE within USG diplomacy and development. In particular, the reduction and restructuring of The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—where a SRE policy that was largely developed under the first Trump administration and subsequently launched during the Biden administration sat—means the center of gravity for SRE work has largely collapsed. In addition, the modest SRE unit operating within the International Religious Freedom Office at the State Department has been shut down. Among those gathered at the roundtable, there was a general sense that this was not a targeted dismantlement of SRE capacity, but collateral damage resulting from broader-scale reductions in U.S. foreign assistance. 

This does not mean that SRE capacity has disappeared, however. Within the Defense Department, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region, and largely under the purview of the US military chaplaincy, efforts to enhance religious literacy and religious actor engagement in security efforts continue through ongoing training and field programming. Changes within the State Department, have allowed efforts to work strategically and meaningfully with religious actors to revert to being personality-driven, dispersed, and unstructured. Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress remain interested and willing to engage with religious actors worldwide, and some continue to encourage that within USG diplomacy, development, and defense.

2) The recent foreign assistance funding cuts have impacted domestic and global faith-based organizations and religious actors who have long partnered with the USG. 

The significant cuts in foreign assistance mean that reliable USG faith-based partners in the development, peacebuilding, and human rights spaces are now competing for fewer funds and being forced to reduce their programming related to refugee support, peacebuilding, humanitarian assistance, and human rights advocacy. Given the restructuring, these partners struggle to identify whom within the USG to partner with, and how to do so. The same goes, to some extent, for faith-based partners overseas, though participants noted that many of these partners are quickly shifting to new and more reliable global partners and allies, despite a legacy of U.S. competitive advantage in this space. There is some sense of possibility to engage with the Trump administration in this work moving forward, so long as the work clearly advances administration priorities. This also depends on gaining clarity about who the key offices and staff to engage with are within the administration in the absence of USAID’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and the SRE unit at the State Department. 

(3) Need and interest remain for USG SRE for diplomacy, development, and defense, but stakeholders within and outside the U.S. seek guidance.

Some U.S. embassy and consulate staff have demonstrated ongoing interest in religious engagement and often acknowledge its importance to advance U.S. interests. However, they are hampered by a lack of guidance from headquarters. At the same time, international partners and local actors still value SRE and expect U.S. leadership in this space, but they too seek guidance on ways to partner and with whom. Coordination on SRE across agencies within USG had, until recently, occurred through interagency working groups. A similar coordination mechanism and articulation of SRE alignment with the administration’s priorities would help. Participants wondered whether the largely domestically-focused White House Faith Office, a successor to the two-decades-old White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, would serve to coordinate or lead on SRE in foreign policy. The State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom (IRF) continues to house some of the department’s SRE capacity, but it remains to be seen how the IRF Office will sustain that function under the new, pending Senate confirmation, ambassador at large. 

4) Despite challenges, new and creative opportunities are possible.

There is general consensus that dynamics around USG diplomacy, development, and defense will continue to evolve. Since SRE capacity needs remain, stakeholders are proactively continuing work where possible, like through the U.S. military chaplains, public institutions like the U.S. Institute of Peace, or on individual bases. Notably, religious considerations in USG diplomacy, development, and defense have generally received bi-partisan support, which augurs well in the long term horizon. A repository of resources that the SRE Hub will be collecting through a digital resource library is one welcome step to preserve that institutional knowledge. And congressional advocacy can be a key lever moving forward, especially to support SRE-friendly programming.