Freeing God’s Children:The Unlikely Alliance for Global Human Rights

by Allen D. Hertzke

Allen Hertzke brings us a readable and interesting account of a recent and surprising phenomenon: conservative evangelicals engaging in the traditionally liberal arena of international humanitarian and human rights advocacy.

Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, MA 20706, 2004, 440 pages, $27.95.

—Reviewed by Bryant L. Myers, vice president for World Vision International, adjunct professor at the School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary, author of Walking with the Poor (Orbis, 1999).

Allen Hertzke brings us a readable and interesting account of a recent and surprising phenomenon: conservative evangelicals engaging in the traditionally liberal arena of international humanitarian and human rights advocacy.

Growing out of the emergence of advocacy on behalf of a persecuted church around the word, these folks are now addressing slavery in Sudan, trafficking of women and the ongoing humanitarian tragedy in North Korea—issues that have been somewhat marginal to secular groups, the international press and the American foreign policy establishment.

The book provides an account of the nature and impact of this movement as it emerged in the 1990s. Hertzke roots the development of this movement in the shift of the center of gravity of the Christian church to the Global South. Hertzke argues that the underlying conditions of this new movement are “the revival in religion around the world, the globalization of Christianity, an enduring human rights crisis and the shift toward a more faith-friendly intellectual climate in the United States.”

The movement is buoyed by the new scholarly enquiry into the contribution of Christianity to global democracy and freedom. The Christian emphasis on the dignity of the human person, the equality of all souls before God and the autonomy of churches from state control fosters a vibrant civil culture and society in which this social engagement finds nourishment.

Hertzke sketches the effectiveness and history of this movement through three principal stories. First, he includes an account of Nina Shea, a Catholic human rights lawyer at Freedom House, who became instrumental in religious rights campaigns. Second, Michael Horowitz, a Jewish activist, who is described by Charles Colson as God’s wake-up call to evangelicals slumbering while their brothers and sisters around the world were being persecuted. Both figures serve to illustrate Hertzke’s strong belief in the importance of human agency in history. Finally, there is a thorough chapter on the delicate strands of human rights activism targeted at Southern Sudan.

Hertzke alerts us to the changing nature of the religious landscape as these human rights issues are addressed. Liberals and conservatives, Protestants and Catholics, Jews and Christians are finding common cause in the face of sex trafficking and religious persecution. Hertzke closes with an interesting chapter that shows how this new religious activism is filling a void in international affairs and contributing to a new architecture for human rights.

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