Religious freedom abroad

[...] American foreign policy has been unable, or unwilling, to grasp the strategic potential of religious liberty: that encouraging it where we can might be a means of countering Islamist extremism by helping struggling democracies take root and inducing illiberal religious actors to compete democratically while accepting the limits that come with democracy's benefits. In highly religious societies, especially Muslim-majority nations struggling to establish democracy and reduce religion-based violence, religious freedom is of particular importance because it mandates equality among religious actors, including an equal opportunity to make their claims in civil and political life. The sociologists Brian Grim and Roger Finke have demonstrated in their book The Price of Freedom Denied that religious extremism flourishes in countries with a closed religious orthodoxy, like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.\n Unfortunately, such views have to date had little purchase.