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Russia, a country of particular concern for the second year in a row, continues to target faith communities within its borders and beyond.

The People's Republic of China seized, imprisoned, and banished predominantly Muslim Uyghurs to re-education camps.

In Afghanistan, members of communities that do not tow the Taliban's narrow theological line must hide their religious identity or flee for their lives.

In India, legal advocates and faith leaders from across the country's diverse religious communities condemn a case of extreme hate speech against Muslims in the city of Hardwar.

That's Rashad Hussein, ambassador at large for the U.S. State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom.

It's a list. Does it indicate that religious freedom globally is on the wane or is it waxing?

And why should people in the U.S. who enjoy an unprecedented amount of religious freedom, although in some ways it's being threatened at the margins?

Why should we care about global religious freedom?

Welcome back to issues, etc. I'm Todd Wilken, joining us to talk about the U.S. State Department's annual International Religious Freedom Report.

Sam Brownback, he's chairman of the National Committee for Religious Freedom, formally served in the U.S. House and Senate, and as ambassador at large for International Religious Freedom during the Trump administration.

Sam, welcome.

Thanks, Todd. Appreciate it.

Is religious freedom gaining or losing globally?

I think we're gaining ground.

It's going to take a while, I think, for it to show up in the numbers overall, but the notoriety of the topic, the saliency of it is growing, the focus on it.

People are seeing now how it's so tied to genocide around the world.

For instance, two weeks ago, I was in Doha, Qatar, a majority Muslim country of 95% Muslim country, speaking about religious freedom hosted by the government in Qatar.

And I'm seeing more of these sort of things where people are opening up more.

You've got some horrific situations, and China is behind or supporting most of the horrific situation, so that makes it very difficult.

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