The United States ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom is the ambassador-at-large who heads the

Office of International Religious Freedom The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 ( Public Law 105–292, as amended by Public Law 106–55, Public Law 106–113, Public Law 107–228, Public Law 108–332, and Public Law 108–458) was passed to promote religious freedom as a fo ...

in the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...

. The position was created by the

International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–292, as amended by Public Law 106–55, Public Law 106–113, Public Law 107–228, Public Law 108–332, and Public Law 108–458) was passed to promote religious freedom as a forei ...

. The first ambassador at large was Bob Seiple who served from 1999 to 2001. He was succeeded by John Hanford who served from May 2002 until January 2009. Suzan Johnson Cook served in the role from May 2011 to October 2013. On July 28, 2014, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

nominated Rabbi David Saperstein for the position. On December 15, 2014, the Senate

confirmed In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

him to the office, making him the first non-Christian to hold this post.Dias, Elizabeth
"Obama Nominates Rabbi to Religious Freedom Post"
, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 31, 2014.Campbell, Kay
"Rabbi David Saperstein confirmed as U.S. Ambassador for Religious Freedom"
, AL.com, December 17, 2014. Retrieved December 19, 2014."US Senate approves rabbi as freedom of faith envoy"
, ''

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist David Horovitz, who is also the founding editor, and American billionaire investor Seth Klarman.

'', December 15, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2014. On July 26, 2017, the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

announced the nomination of

Sam Brownback Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American attorney, politician, diplomat, and member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Fr ...

, then- Governor of Kansas to fill the vacancy in the office. Five months later, the Senate had yet to hold a confirmation vote, so per Senate rules, he was required to be nominated again in 2018 in order for a vote to be held. He was confirmed to the position on January 24, 2018, on a 49–49 vote of the Senate, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie in favor of Brownback.

Ambassadors-at-large

References

External links

* {{Ambassadors of the United States Freedom of religion