Lock & key: No easy fit for persecution bill and realpolitik

International | | Mindy Belz

On May 14, lawmakers in the House of Representatives passed a bill to combat religious persecution overseas, which would presumably give the United States new leverage against the anti-blasphemy laws and how they are used in Pakistan. But in Washington, it's never that simple.

The House passed the Freedom from Religious Persecution Act, introduced by Rep. Frank Wolf last year, in overwhelming numbers, 375-41. A companion bill awaits action in the Senate, as does the International Religious Freedom Act, a late-round contender in the campaign against religious persecution introduced by Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles, the assistant majority leader. With endorsement from Foreign Relations committee chairman Jesse Helms, the Nickles bill is more likely to win passage in the Senate, meaning the persecution bills will have to be reconciled before a piece of legislation can be presented to the president, presumably sometime this summer.