USCIRF: Richard Land appointed to Commission by Senator Bill Frist, replacing Commissioner Michael Young

Jul 26, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2005

Contact:
Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27


WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist appointed Dr. Richard D. Land of Nashville, Tennessee, to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent and bipartisan federal agency. Dr. Land is replacing Commissioner Michael K. Young, who has served on the Commission since its inception in 1999 and has served both as USCIRF Chair and Vice Chair.

"I am delighted that Senator Frist has appointed Dr. Land, who in the past has served on this Commission as a Presidential appointee (September 2001 to September 2004). The experience, knowledge, and perspective he brings will greatly enhance the work of our Commission. He has been an important asset to the USCIRF in the past and we enthusiastically welcome his return. On behalf of the Commission, I want to thank Michael Young for his tireless dedication to the Commission for the past six years. His leadership as Chair and Vice Chair guided the Commission from the beginning, and his thoughtful vision will be missed," said Commission Chair Michael Cromartie.

Richard Land has served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission since 1988. During his tenure as spokesman on Capitol Hill for the largest Protestant denomination in the country, Dr. Land has represented Southern Baptists' interests in Congress, before U.S. Presidents, and in the major media.

In February, 2005, Land was featured in Time magazine as one of "The Twenty-five Most Influential Evangelicals in America." In May 2004, Land was recognized by the National Journalas one of the 10 top church-state experts "politicians will call on when they get serious about addressing an important public policy issue."

He is the host of two nationally syndicated radio programs, For Faith & Family and For Faith & Family's Insight. The For Faith & Family Broadcast Ministry is heard by more than 1.5 million listeners each week on over 600 radio stations across the country and throughout the world on the Internet. Richard Land Live! is Land's latest radio initiative and it is syndicated on the Salem Radio Network. Most recently, he has authored Imagine! A God-Blessed America, and Real Homeland Security: The America God Will Bless (Broadman & Holman Publishers), and is also Executive Editor of Faith & Family Values, a national magazine.

At the time Michael Young joined the Commission in 1999, he was the Dean of the George Washington University Law School. He is now the President of the University of Utah.

The Commission consists of nine voting Commissioners and the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, who is a non-voting member. Three Commissioners are selected by the President, two by the leaders of the President's party in Congress, and four by the congressional leaders of the other party.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress.

Michael Cromartie,Chair
  • Felice D. Gaer,Vice ChairNina Shea,Vice ChairPreeta D. BansalArchbishop Charles J. ChaputKhaled Abou El FadlRichard D. LandElizabeth H. ProdromouBishop Ricardo RamirezAmbassador John V. Hanford III,Ex-OfficioJoseph R. Crapa,Executive Director