LIVE: International Religious Freedom Summit 2023

The International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit 2023 will be held from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1 in Washington, D.C. The summit is intended to create a powerful coalition of organizations that operate together for the cause of religious freedom around the world.  The summit is also held to increase public awareness and political strength for the international religious freedom movement. On the first day, The Epoch Times will livestream the Welcome Plenary Session at 9:45 a.m. and Defending IRF: Session 1 at 11 a.m. In the Welcome Plenary Session, IRF Summit Co-Chairs, U.S. Ambassador Sam Brownback and Katrina Lantos Swett, the president of Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, will welcome the guests. U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Simran Jeet Singh, the executive director of the Aspen Institute Religion and Society Program, and Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, will talk about the vitality of the IRF to U.S. foreign policy. In Defending IRF: Session 1, Katrina Lantos Swett will host a conversation with Maryum Ali, youth advocate and daughter of Muhammad Ali, and Penn Badgley, an actor and activist, to talk about how to leverage faith and courage in advocating for religious freedom.