Rabbi confirmed as U.S. ambassador for religious freedom

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The Senate confirmed David Saperstein—named the most influential rabbi in America by Newsweek magazine in 2009—as the State Department’s ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, making him the first non-Christian to hold the job.

Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, preaches at a Washington, D.C., service in 2002. (RNS Photo)Saperstein, led the Reform Jewish movement’s Washington office 40 years, focusing on social justice and religious freedom issues. President Obama nominated him in July, and the Senate confirmed his nomination, 62-35, Dec. 12.

“Religious freedom faces daunting and alarming challenges worldwide,” Saperstein said at his confirmation hearing in September. “If confirmed, I will do everything within my abilities and influence to engage every sector of the State Department and the rest of the U.S. government to integrate religious freedom into our nation’s statecraft and foreign policies.”

Saperstein will head the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom. He will be tasked with monitoring religious freedom abuses around the world.

The Washington-based Interfaith Alliance applauded Saperstein’s confirmation.

“When David steps into this position, he not only achieves a remarkable capstone to what has been a long and successful career, he brings to our nation’s foreign policy a wealth of knowledge and a fierce dedication to religious freedom and the rights of religious minorities,” said Interfaith Alliance President Welton Gaddy.

“David’s work has always been guided by the Jewish commandment to repair the world—he has now been given an incredible platform to do just that.”

Saperstein was the first chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, created as a watchdog group in the same act of Congress that created the ambassador-at-large position. In 2009, Obama appointed him to the first White House Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Saperstein, 67, is the fourth person to hold the job, which was created by Congress in 1998. He succeeds Suzan Johnson Cook—a Baptist and the first African-American and woman to serve in the position—who resigned in October 2013, saying she needed to earn more to support her family.