Lankford, Ernst, Abraham Accords Caucus Push State Department to Facilitate Interfaith Dialogues in Middle East

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) joined Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is leading her caucus co-chairs in pushing the State Department to facilitate interfaith dialogue between Abraham Accords member countries.

Ernst is joined by fellow Abraham Accords Caucus Co-Chairs Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Brad Schneider (D-IL), David Trone (D-MD), Ann Wagner (R-MO) in a letter to the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Rashad Hussain, urging him to increase opportunities for interfaith and intercultural dialogue in the region.

“The Abraham Accords have the potential to anchor Middle Eastern security cooperation, economic prosperity, and cultural exchange grounded in mutual understanding,” the letter said. “Specifically, increased interfaith dialogue will further diplomatic, cultural, and economic cooperation between the diverse peoples of the region.”

The letter continues, “The second paragraph of the Abraham Accords Declaration, signed by the United States, states ‘we encourage efforts to promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue to advance a culture of peace among the three Abrahamic religions and all humanity.’ We ask you to commit to putting this declaration into practice by supporting interfaith dialogue programs within signatory and potential signatory countries of the Abraham Accords.”

The letter is supported ADL, Abraham’s Missing Child Initiative, AIPAC, AJC, American Jewish Congress, American Sephardi Federation, B’nai B’rith International, Combat Antisemitism Movement, Coptic Orphans, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, CUFI Action, In Defense of Christians, Jewish Federations of North America, Mimouna Association, Muslim American Leadership Alliance, the Hellenic American Leadership Council, the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, the Philos Project, USIEA, and the World Jewish Congress – North America.

Read the full letter here.