The Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) exists to speak up for Christians who are persecuted because of their faith.
While it has this specific mandate to speak up for Christians, it strongly believes in the rights of all people, of any faith or none, to have freedom of religion or belief, including the freedom to convert.
The Commission is formed of Release International, CSW and Open Doors UK who are all working to support and speak up for Christians suffering for their faith.
The RLC was officially launched on 4 February 2015 at a service at the Palace of Westminster led by the Most Rev and Rt Hon Justin Welby.
The Archbishop of Canterbury said he welcomed the coordination of voices speaking out against persecution under the one banner of the RLC, adding: “I echo warmly the RLC’s encouragement for religious and political leaders to speak out in unison against any violation of freedom of religion.”
The RLC seeks to speak to the church, the state and the media. Where it is possible to speak up to government on behalf of all minorities in a given situation, without losing effectiveness for the Christians, it may do so.
As a collaboration of several organisations the RLC doesn’t replace the work of the member organisations, and the members only speak together as the RLC on issues of strategic importance for the future of the church – in particular, if it feels that the topic or issue is not attracting sufficient attention by other means.
While the RLC enables the member organisations to speak as one voice for persecuted Christians, it doesn’t claim to be the only voice – and very much welcomes the fact that others are also doing excellent work in this area.
