And actions that can't be ranked in a system, like "engaging in dialogue," will be taken into account as well although they won't be listed on the scorecard, Lou Ann Sabatier of Wilberforce Initiative explained. "We also know that there are countless ways that members and their staff work behind the scenes to advance the cause of religious liberty," Wolf said.
The issue is so important because so many around the globe are persecuted for their beliefs, panel members insisted at the press conference introducing the scorecard.
Religious minorities worldwide are threatened by a "communal majoritarianism," said Farahnaz Ispahani, journalist and former member of Pakistan's National Assembly. This is especially evident with anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Europe, Christians persecuted in the Middle East, North Africa, China, and North Korea, and the persecution of both Muslims and Christians in India and Myanmar, she said.
The percentage of Christians as part of the total Middle Eastern population fell from 20 percent at the start of the 20th century to just 5 percent now, she said. In Pakistan, religious minorities made up 23 percent of the population before the 1947 partition, but now they are only 3 percent of the populace.
"I trust that a scorecard will help monitor Congress' performance in standing up for oppressed religious minorities in every part of the world," she said. "The current practice of ignoring violations of the principle of freedom of belief for strategic or political reasons neither sets U.S. foreign policy objectives, nor does it represent America's lofty principles."
Religious freedom, enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, is one of America's founding principles, Wolf insisted, quoting President Ronald Reagan's 1987 Constitution Day address that the document was a "covenant" with "all of mankind."
Religious liberty continues to be a covenant, Wolf said, a "covenant with Sister Diana in Iraq today," the Iraqi nun who testified before Congress about the brutal persecution of Iraqi Christians by ISIS.
"We know how important religious freedom is. It supports human dignity, social cohesion, independent thinking, and the ability to authentically live lives that pursue truth, justice, and mercy," he said.
Matt Hadro was the political editor at Catholic News Agency through October 2021. He previously worked as CNA senior D.C. correspondent and as a press secretary for U.S. Congressman Chris Smith.