IRF Secretariat has led the effort to build a global network of independent multi-faith Roundtables. This network now consists of more than 50 roundtables and partners, including those in the USA, UK, EU, the Netherlands, Italy, Ukraine, Iraq, Northeast Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Taiwan, South Korea, Nigeria, Sudan, and Guatemala.

IRF Secretariat has led the effort to build a global network of independent multi-faith Roundtables. This network now consists of more than 50 roundtables and partners, including those in the USA, UK, EU, the Netherlands, Italy, Ukraine, Iraq, Northeast Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Taiwan, South Korea, Nigeria, Sudan, and Guatemala.

The International Religious Freedom (IRF) Roundtable is a proven platform for bringing people together—across deep political and theological differences—and building mutual understanding, respect, trust, and reliance among citizens, communities, and governments. In fact, it is a model of good citizenship and governance that will contribute to the long-term security and economic interests of all countries and regions.

It is important to emphasize that each religious community participating maintains all their own unique theological tenets. This is not interfaith dialogue, and no participant or community is asked to compromise. Instead, they are joining forces with those of other faiths to take multi-faith actions to safeguard or further religious freedom in their own community and globally.

The Multi-Faith IRF Roundtable is a civil society-led, multi-faith network that provides a forum for sharing stories of challenges each faith and belief community is facing, launching multi-faith actions and initiatives to solve problems, and increasing collaboration between various communities and between civil society and government.

The IRF Roundtable is an informal group of individuals from non-governmental organizations who gather regularly to discuss IRF issues on a non-attribution basis. It is simply a safe space where participants gather, speak freely in sharing ideas and information, and propose joint advocacy actions to address specific IRF issues and problems. In response to various participant-led initiatives regarding the protection and promotion of freedom of religion, conscience, and belief in the U.S. and abroad, all participants have the opportunity to self-select into coalitions of the willing.

The Roundtable meets every week by Zoom and every two months in person in the U.S. Congress. Average in-person attendance has grown to 150-200 participants from civil society and government, including the U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom and senior staff from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Further, officials from the White House National Security Council, the U.S. Commerce Department, the U.S. Defense Department, the U.S. Helsinki Commission, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, the IRF Caucus in the House, members of Congress, and foreign governments have also participated.

The goal of the Roundtable is to reverse the rising tide of restrictions on religious freedom that has been spreading across the world. According to the Pew Research Center’s latest annual study on global restrictions on religion, 83% of the world’s population lived in countries with high or very high levels of restrictions and/or hostilities (up from 74% in 2014; and 68% in 2007).

In this direction, the purpose of the Roundtable is to advance IRF by:

1. Engaging the U.S. government to make IRF a foreign policy and national security priority so:

• IRF is fully integrated into U.S. foreign policy and national security, including democracy promotion, public diplomacy, counterterrorism, and multilateral strategies.

• U.S. foreign policy tools are used to advance religious freedom around the world, per the mandate established by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act.

• The political and cultural institutions necessary to advance religious freedom are continually supported, facilitated, and protected at home and abroad.

• Global levels of religious intolerance, discrimination, persecution, terrorism, and instability are significantly reduced.

2. Engaging civil society leaders, other governments that protect and promote religious freedom, and multilateral, intergovernmental institutions to coordinate joint advocacy efforts.

3. Engaging in meaningful dialogues with governments that restrict religious freedom, so as to:

• Politely but persistently push factual reports that document violations of their own constitutions and/or international commitments.

• Frame the issues in their best interests, and increase mutual understanding and respect of religious communities and dynamics.

• Agree on a process to resolve differences related to particular situations in their countries.

• Create a mechanism for improvement of policies and practices, and for verification.

While participants of the Roundtable continue to engage the U.S. government to do more to advance IRF, and work with it whenever and wherever it can help, they do not rely exclusively on it to achieve the goal. Rather, participants also reach out directly to other governments. The meaningful dialogues they have opened with ambassadors, embassies, and delegations are designed to grow into results-driven collaborations.

Indeed, they are manifestations of “bottom-up” civil society engaging the “top-down” of governments, something participants want to model in the context of multiple bilateral relations. To borrow from the lingo of diplomacy, the Roundtable represents a creative intersection of “Track 1” (governmental) and “Track 2” (civil society) – its emerging model is a true demonstration of “Track 1.5” engagement in action, through which strategic partnerships, collaborations, and consultative relationships between governments and civil society organizations might advance peace and prosperity.

In General, the IRF Roundtable is based upon three basic principles:

• Multi-faith:

• The Roundtable is made up of leaders and representatives of all faiths and beliefs (including atheists and secular humanists).

• While there is very little we agree on theologically or politically, we all agree on the importance of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and we work together on the basis of mutual understanding, respect, trust, and reliance.

• We all share common goals and interests with each of the governments we engage—security, stability, peace, and prosperity—which empowers us to harness their self-interest in these relationships.

• Inclusive:

• The Roundtable is open to everyone (large, small, old, new, traditional, non-traditional, etc.) who is willing to work with others in multi-faith fashion.

• The only people who are not allowed to participate: those who promote, advocate and/or resort to the use of violence to pursue their goals; and those who violate the basic principles and rules of the Roundtable.

• Equal citizenship:

• Everyone has a seat at the Roundtable and equal opportunities to speak, share their stories, launch multi-faith initiatives, and invite all others to opt-in.

• Everyone is welcome to opt-in to stand up for and support the initiatives of others.

• Participants work together as equal citizens as the IRF Roundtable is based on the following definitions of Roundtable:

• The table at which King Arthur and his knights sat so that none should have precedence. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. This told of King Arthur’s having a round table made so that none, when seated at it, could claim precedence over the others.

• MEETINGS (also round-table) used to describe a discussion or meeting where everyone is thought of as equal in importance.

Specifically, the Roundtable is:

• Informal:

• The IRF Roundtable is not a legal entity or organization.

• It is an informal group of individuals from non-governmental organizations—including faith communities, faith-based groups, atheist and humanist groups, and human rights organizations—and governments who gather regularly to discuss IRF issues.

• It is made up of participants rather than members.

• While there is a common goal and purpose everyone agrees on, there are no requirements for participants to endorse or support any specific public policy statements or agendas.

• While participants of the IRF Roundtable hold an extremely broad diversity of theological views and political positions, we all agree on the importance of international religious freedom.

• A Safe Space:

• The IRF Roundtable has always been a safe space, which is non-partisan, where representatives of all faiths and beliefs gather, speak freely in sharing information and specific stories of discrimination, persecution, and even genocide, launch multi-faith advocacy initiatives, pull together, and stand up for each other by urging governments to reform their laws and policies to secure freedom of thought, conscience, and religion for everyone, everywhere.

• As such, we repeat the following reminders before every Roundtable meeting:

• Everyone shall follow the Golden Rule and respect the right of each individual participant to speak at the Roundtable, design and launch advocacy initiatives, and self-select into multi-faith coalitions of the willing.

• Everyone shall follow the Chatham House Rules. Participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed. NO video or audio taping is allowed.

• Participants may not start arguments, speak ill of, or in any way target or attack any individual participant or group at the Roundtable.

• Civil Society-Led:

• The IRF Roundtable is not a function of the U.S. government.

• We always invite government officials to our meetings, however, and welcome their updates and participation as we need civil society and governments working together to solve these problems.

• Since its founding, IRF Roundtable participants have invited and worked enthusiastically with the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations.

• Action-Oriented:

• The purpose of sharing stories of challenges, including discrimination, persecution, and genocide, is to catalyze multi-faith actions.

• The IRF Roundtable began to grow when it began taking multi-faith actions.

• The more actions it took, the more it grew.

• Participant-led and Driven

• It is the participants who co-sponsor in-person meetings, place specific items on the agendas, speak at meetings, and share their stories of discrimination, persecution, and genocide.

• Each individual participant has an equal opportunity to design and launch joint, multi-faith initiatives and advocacy actions regarding the protection and promotion of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion in the U.S. and abroad.

• Each participant can establish, self-organize, and/or join multi-faith working groups to discuss specific situations and multi-faith responses in greater detail, in preparation for multi-faith advocacy actions.

• Every participant-driven action is undertaken solely by, and on behalf of, the individual participants who self-select into that specific coalition of the willing.

• Opt-In Basis:

• In response to various participant-led initiatives, all participants can self-select into coalitions of the willing and participate in joint, multi-faith advocacy actions.

• But participants are under no obligation to take any action whatsoever.

• The opt-in mechanism is usually a multi-faith letter. If participants agree with the subject of the letter and the policy actions it promotes, they are urged to sign on. If they do not agree, however, they shall simply choose not to sign on (rather than debating and/or arguing at the Roundtable). They can also design and launch their own multi-faith initiative but shall not reference or counter the multi-faith initiatives, letters, actions, or positions of other participants.

• The multi-faith letter can be followed by multi-faith meetings (of a group of the signers) with government officials, multi-faith press events, social media, subsequent multi-faith letters, and other joint actions that are self-organized by participants.

• Cooperative Engagement Approach:

• The IRF Roundtable takes a cooperative engagement approach, which means participants engage each other and government officials cooperatively and constructively, with respect for the human dignity and liberty of conscience of every individual.

• The meaningful dialogues they have opened with ambassadors, embassies, and delegations are designed to grow into results-driven collaborations. Indeed, they are manifestations of “bottom-up” civil society engaging the “top-down” of governments, something participants want to model in the context of multiple bilateral relations.

• To borrow from the lingo of diplomacy, the Roundtable represents a creative intersection of “Track 1” (governmental) and “Track 2” (civil society) – its emerging model is a true demonstration of “Track 1.5” engagement in action, through which strategic partnerships, collaborations, and consultative relationships between governments and civil society organizations might advance peace and prosperity.

• Continuous and Ongoing:

• Finally, the continuous and ongoing nature of the IRF Roundtable makes it more effective than any one-time, annual, or periodic congress, summit, conference, forum, seminar, or training sessions.

• The Roundtable has been holding these practical policy discussions and coordinating multi-faith actions continuously for almost 14 years.

• Working together—taking actions together, side by side—over time is the only possible way for leaders and representatives of all faiths and beliefs to move beyond mere acquaintance and tolerance to strong relationships that grow into mutual understanding, mutual respect, mutual trust and, finally, mutual reliance.

• Stereotypes crumble early in the process.

1. The IRF Roundtable has proven it is possible for faith and belief communities to “engage one another cooperatively and constructively” across our deepest differences, pull and work together to advance religious freedom for all.

2. In its 14th year now, the Roundtable has become the premier space for practical policy discussions and coordination between faith communities and civil society, governments, and multilateral organizations; has attracted representatives of more than 1,000 organizations and launched more than 250 multi-faith initiatives; and has earned wide respect from across the theological and political spectrums.

3. Lasting relationships are built, creating mutual understanding, respect, trust (the coin of the realm in complicated contexts), and reliance; practical actions are taken together as equal citizens of the same country, despite deep theological and political differences; the Roundtable itself has become a model of good citizenship and governance; nobody is alienated or marginalized, and the platform is accepted and respected by governments.

4. Greater social cohesion occurred as every faith and belief has a seat at the table, a voice in the process, and an equal opportunity to speak, serve on the steering committee, cosponsor meetings, propose policy initiatives and invite others to support them, and self-organize/select into working groups. Actions are taken together as equal citizens and lasting relationships are built, creating mutual understanding, respect, trust (the coin of the realm in complicated contexts) and reliance as faith and belief communities stand up for each other’s freedom thought, conscience, and religion.

5. The multi-faith advocacy actions continue to result in policy victories, including the inclusion of IRF in the National Security Strategy of the U.S.; formal U.S. Government designations of genocide (in the Middle East and China); passage of the Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, and the Frank Wolf IRF Act in Washington; and a rejection by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of destructive report recommendations by France to replicate their anti-sect model across Europe.

6. In 2018, Sam Brownback became the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, recognized the value of this model, and asked if it would be possible for him to meet with the Roundtable every week. Since February 2018, the Roundtable has been meeting every Tuesday.

7. In the process of developing this model, the co-chairs and participants of the IRF Roundtable developed a vision of a global interlocking network of roundtables that intentionally interface across countries and continents—because we are all minorities somewhere, and because terrorists can be home-grown anywhere—which could support stronger and more stable states and societies. This bottom-up effort could coordinate with the global top-down initiatives of governments and parliamentarians.

8. IRF Secretariat was incorporated to serve as the global leadership and coordination mechanism.

9. In 2019, Greg Mitchell and other participants of the IRF Roundtable began the Herculean effort to build this global interlocking network of (multi-faith, inclusive, equal citizenship) religious freedom roundtables and partners, and use it to facilitate global engagement based on mutual respect for the other’s liberty of conscience, build mutual trust and reliance, and coordinate actions to persuade governments to improve. The target is 100 roundtables and partners.