An American diplomat to China was asked at a congressional hearing what he thought about the religious situation in China, particularly the house church movement. The diplomat responded by asking what a house church is.

The U.S. government needs to enhance the religious literacy of its foreign service officers and diplomats so that they can better address foreign policy challenges, a report advised.

Task force members of the report “Engaging Religious Communities Abroad: A New Imperative for U.S. Foreign Policy,” sponsored by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said for too long the government has ignored the fact that religion plays a large role in the lives of the people its officers interact with overseas.

It is imperative that representatives of America engage with local religious communities and receive training on how to relate to these religious groups in order to fulfill its foreign interests.

“The reality is that religious people and faith-based organizations – Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and others – play enormously constructive roles in the world,” said Scott Appleby, the co-chair of the report and the John M. Regan Director of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, on Tuesday.

“They are pivotal to global efforts to educate women and children, deliver health care, fight disease, resolve conflicts and promote democracy,” he said. “Policymakers need to understand this, because shrewd engagement of religious communities is in the best strategic interests of the United States.”

READ MORE: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100224/report-u-s-foreign-officers-need-religious-education/index.html