Presidental Commitment

Once again the nature of the President's commitment to his faith has been called into question. A bipartisan, congressional commission on religious freedom criticized the Bush State Department for again failing to punish Saudi Arabia following its censure of the regime last fall. The censure resulted from Saudi restrictions on non-Muslim worship.

"These persistent delays in the process serve only to signal that the United States does not take seriously [the International Religious Freedom Act's] stated and mandated commitments to promote religious freedom and other human rights throughout the world."

So said, Preeta Bansal, chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said in a public statement yesterday.