Philpott on Christians and the "Arab Spring"

My friend and colleague, Dan Philpott (author of the outstanding God's Century) has a good piece up at the Berkeley Center's website, called "Citizens or Martyrs:  The Uncertain Fate of Christians in the Arab Spring."  A bit:

. . . Today, Egyptian Muslim office-seekers are divided among proponents of a strongly Islamic state and supporters of liberal rights, including religious freedom for Christians. The scenario of religious freedom, then, is plausible, too.

What can be done on behalf of Arab Christians to make this rosier scenario more likely? For its part, the U.S. government ought to use its power of economic aid and diplomatic recognition far more assertively to protect vulnerable Christians. To his credit, President Obama made religious freedom a tenet of his June 2009 speech in Cairo in which he sought to reorient U.S. relations with the Muslim world. But the response of his State Department to actual attacks on Christians has been tepid. The case for more vigorous U.S. support for Christians is in part one of human rights. But it runs wider. Protecting Christians is a matter of religious freedom, and religious freedom – for Christians as well as all minorities, including dissident Muslims – is an indispensable plank of stable, democratic regimes, a key goal of U.S. foreign policy in the region. In this highly religious part of the world, the attempts of secular dictators to suppress religion have bred violence and encouraged extremism, just as Islamist dictatorships would do were they to emerge. The middle possibility is the sort of democracy that invites the participation of religious communities and channels it in a civic direction. The protection of Christian minorities can be seen as a litmus test for such religious-friendly democracy.

For their part, Christians around the world could do far more to speak out on behalf of their beleaguered brethren. The lesson of Eastern Europe during the Cold War is that dissidents are emboldened and empowered by the support of outsiders. Christians, like the U.S. government, should realize that protection for fellow believers lies not merely in solidarity with the persecuted but in the kind of regime that protects religious freedom for all. . . .

By the way, the Berkeley Center (led by Tom Farr), is doing a lot of great religious-freedom work these days.  This upcoming event -- a debate between Michael McConnell and Noah Feldman -- looks great.