Rebecca Shah (l) and Ambassador Sam Brownback
Rebecca Shah (l) and Ambassador Sam Brownback (photo: Georgetown University / U.S. Department of State)

Ambassador Sam Brownback and Rebecca Shah (Season 4 — Ep. 5)

Our guests on this episode of Religious Freedom Matters are Sam Brownback, a former U.S. senator and Kansas governor who served as the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom from 2018 to 2021, and Rebecca Shah, principal investigator for the Religion and Economic Empowerment Project (REEP) and a senior fellow at the Archbridge Institute.

“This is unbelievable to me—  that they would arrest a 90-year-old cardinal in Hong Kong, who is one of the most known figures throughout Hong Kong and the world on Chinese oppression. And they boldly and with great gall just arrest him? This to me really harkens back to the early Nazi moves against the Jews.” —Ambassador Sam Brownback on Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong

“The lesson we take as Indians is, even though we face persecution, even though we may face martyrdom, even though we may face tremendous constraints and restrictions, the Church will grow, because that is the beauty of the faith.” —Rebecca Shah on the Catholic faith in India