International Religious Freedom: Congressman Frank Wolf and Ambassador Tony Hall

On Thursday, April 14, The King’s College held a standing-room-only event to hear Congressman Frank Wolf and Ambassador Tony Hall discuss their lifetimes of achievement on Capitol Hill and their bipartisan efforts toward international religious freedom. Wolf encouraged students to not only remain resolute in their faith, but to act upon it in the pursuit of worldwide justice. Hall agreed, insisting on the importance of having a trustworthy prayer partner while immersed in the career field.

Former congressman Frank Wolf is the distinguished senior fellow of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, a newly created religious freedom advocacy group, and the first Wilson Chair in Religious Freedom at Baylor University. Wolf served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1980 to 2014 (VA-10). He is the author of the International Religious Freedom Act, which created the International Religious Freedom Office at the U.S. Department of State and established the bipartisan, independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. He  is also the author of the legislation to create a special envoy at the State Department to advocate for religious minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia. Wolf founded and served as cochairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan organization comprised of nearly 200 members of Congress who work together to raise awareness about international human rights issues. Wolf’s memoir, Prisoner of Conscience, focuses on some of the work he has done.

Former senator Tony P. Hall is a leading advocate for hunger relief programs and improving human rights conditions in the world. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times. In February 2002, President George W. Bush asked him to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and sworn in by Secretary of State Colin Powell in September 2002 and retired in April 2005. He retired from official diplomatic service in April, 2006. Prior to his diplomatic service, Ambassador Hall represented the 3rd district of Ohio in the U.S. Congress for almost 24 years. He is currently serving as the executive director of the Alliance to End Hunger which engages diverse institutions in building the public and political will to end hunger at home and abroad.