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The US urgently needs a confirmed ambassador for religious freedom

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by Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, opinion contributor - 05/10/26 1:00 PM ET

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by Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, opinion contributor - 05/10/26 1:00 PM ET

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A protester holds balloons calling for religious freedom outside the US Supreme Court on April 28, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Olivier Douliery/Getty Images)

There is a Spanish pun that cuts to the heart of accountability: “El que tiene tienda, que atienda.” It is loosely translated as “He who keeps a shop must mind it.” If you have taken on a responsibility, you must see it through.

The U.S. has taken on exactly such a responsibility when it comes to international religious freedom. It is undeniable that religious freedom is a priority for this administration, but in order to effectively advocate for our persecuted brothers and sisters, that responsibility demands urgent, confirmed leadership.

The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 mandates a Senate-confirmed ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, a senior diplomat carrying the full weight of the U.S. government, empowered to engage foreign heads of state, build international coalitions and ensure that the cause of conscience is not quietly traded away for other diplomatic interests. That position needs to be filled now.

Consider what just happened. In April 2025, President Trump nominated former Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) to become ambassador-at-large. When the nomination stalled in the Senate and ultimately expired, Trump pivoted to appoint Walker as principal adviser on Global Religious Freedom, a non-confirmed role designed to keep the work moving in the absence of a confirmed ambassador.

It was a practical solution to a frustrating problem, but Walker’s term in that role ended last month. There is now no one, confirmed or otherwise, leading things on behalf of the administration. The shop is not merely understaffed. The lights are off.

The need to fill this position is not based on an abstraction. Look around the world and consider what that means.

In Nigeria, more than 3,400 Christians were killed at the hands of jihadist groups operating with devastating impunity. That’s roughly 3,400 of nearly 5,000 Christians killed for their faith worldwide in the most recent reporting year. The Nigerian government has repeatedly denied the scale of the crisis even as entire Christian communities are wiped out.

The fall of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region brought not only the displacement of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenian Christians but also the deliberate destruction of their churches and monasteries, a sacred geography erased while the world looked away.

In China, the systematic erasure of Uyghur Muslim culture continues alongside relentless pressure on underground Catholics and house-churches. And this February, 78-year-old Catholic businessman Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison under Hong Kong’s National Security Law — effectively a death sentence for a man whose only crime was defending freedom of conscience and of the press.

In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega’s regime has waged a campaign to strangle the Catholic Church since 2018. Bishops have been imprisoned, stripped of citizenship and driven into exile. Nicaragua is a warning of what happens when authoritarian regimes in our own hemisphere calculate that America is not watching.

These are not isolated crises. They form a pattern that demands sustained, authoritative American engagement.

That is precisely what a confirmed ambassador-at-large provides. Sam Brownback, one of the International Religious Freedom Act’s original Senate architects who served as ambassador during President Trump’s first term, proved the point. He convened the first Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, launched the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance and built coalitions that outlasted his tenure.

Rashad Hussain, confirmed under President Biden, deepened the office’s reach across State Department policymaking and secured the safe passage of persecuted Chinese Christians who arrived in America to celebrate Easter in Texas.

Different parties, different faiths, same understanding: A confirmed ambassador carries a diplomatic authority and credibility that no interim arrangement can replicate. When foreign governments see a caretaker across the table rather than a Senate-confirmed envoy, the signal is unmistakable that this is not quite a priority.

The urgency is compounded by transition at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. This month, the terms of many commissioners will expire. Commissioners like Maureen Ferguson, a tireless and prominent voice for persecuted com