Master of Divnity Student Participates in Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group

Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary Master of Divinity student, TJ Williams-Hauger was recently honored with an invitation to participate in a meeting hosted by the Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group at the United States Department of State on issues lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons are facing worldwide.

At the June 6th meeting, participants discussed strategies for dealing with global instances of homophobia that have manifested in criminalization bills coming out of Nigeria and Uganda against LGBT persons. These strategies included: looking at how global violence against LGBT people has been spread by American Evangelical ministers, seeing human rights as a more inclusive right, and merging human rights violations together and focusing on the whole community rather than only on specific LGBT violations in Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria.

TJ Williams-Hauger with Vice President Joe Biden
and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden

“If we are to make a moral place for LGBT people to live and be in their own communities, then we must understand the complex connections to other human rights violations. We must also understand Western influence in creating these violations,” said Williams-Hauger. “We advisory board members and our current government administration along with religious leaders must be mindful of this history, but also support, plant and lead messages of liberation [for LGBT people]. We must also remind global partners, communities, and leaders that its sons and daughters are its responsibility.”

Some other suggestions and strategies emerging out of the meeting revolved around identifying ministers, leaders, and scholars who can be new voices of hope and speak against the use of the Bible to justify human rights violations. In addition, there was encouragement to move away from the language of individual sin to collective sin, identifying what and why something is a sin and how to respond. Another issue brought up was the way public policy is used to criminalize and oppress certain groups of people but also how to recognize and express cultural differences without excusing human rights violations.

Williams-Hauger saw close connections between his seminary education at Garrett-Evangelical and his work with the Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group, “It helps remind me that the world in which I live is my responsibility. I am not just an occupant of my city, my nation or my world, but I must be a participant. For me, Jesus' demand that I go out into world is not just about personal salvation, but it is about my personal responsibility as I live to proclaim God's justice. My theological education is entwined with my public and personal call to go into what is wrong with the world and be God's hands and feet and live Jesus' inaugural sermon in Luke 4:16-21.”

The Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group is one of six working groups under the Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) for the Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society. The Federal Advisory Committee for the Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society was created in 2011 by then U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to provide advice and assistance in the formulation of U.S. policies, proposals, and strategies for engagement with, and protection of, civil society worldwide.