Traveling on a U.S. State Department-sponsored program, a member of parliament and three religious leaders from Afghanistan met with Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director J. Brent Walker for a conversation about religious liberty at the BJC's offices July 20.
The guests are participants in the U.S. State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program.
The visitors from Afghanistan, accompanied by two translators, will spend three weeks in the United States learning about the social, political and civic roles and responsibilities of religious leaders in a democratic society. Among the visitors were three Islamic religious leaders and a Member of the Wolasi Jarga (the House of the People of the bicameral National Assembly of Afghanistan).
The Afghan religious leaders were eager to learn about the separation of church and state in the U.S., and specifically the BJC's role in defending religious liberties for all. Walker shared a brief overview of Baptist beliefs as well as the mission and work of the BJC.
Baptist Joint Committee