Powerful interfaith coalition urges President Trump to put religion back on the G20 agenda
“The existing mechanism of the R20 offers an effective vehicle through which the U.S. and other G20 Members may cooperate with the world’s major religions to foster global peace, security, and prosperity.”
~ Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, in a letter to President Donald J. Trump
WASHINGTON, D.C., 6 January 2026 — As reported by Religion News Service, a coalition of 84 prominent U.S. religious leaders, scholars, and security experts “led by New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan; Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center; former Vatican ambassador Mary Ann Glendon; and First Liberty Institute President Kelly Shackelford, sent President Donald Trump a letter urging him to… ‘officially recognize the Religion 20 Summit (R20) as part of America’s presidency of the G20 in 2026.’”
The R20 Coalition Letter was sent to President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio by His Eminence Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, as one of his last acts before the announcement of his retirement from the post. In it, Cardinal Dolan wrote:
Religion has long been, and remains, the greatest source of soft power in much of the world. The G20 Religion Forum (R20) seeks to ensure that religions in the 21st century function as a genuine and dynamic source of global solutions, rather than problems, and thereby contribute to the flourishing of individuals, societies, and civilizations alike.
The Government of Indonesia incorporated the first R20 International Summit of Religious Leaders into the official program of G20 Main Events in conjunction with its Presidency of the G20 in 2022. This was the first time that religion was ever placed on the official G20 agenda. The inaugural R20 Summit specifically highlighted the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Nigeria. Archbishop Henry Ndukuba, Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, serves on the R20 Board.
The U.S. Presidency of the G20 will coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Official recognition of the R20 offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to revitalize America’s founding vision on the global stage — affirming the God-given right of all people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — and leverage its revolutionary principles to recalibrate the trajectory of Western civilization and the world at large.
The call to officially recognize the R20 Summit was backed by some of America’s most influential figures, including presidents of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; the National Association of Evangelicals; The Heritage Foundation; the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; the University of Notre Dame; Focus on the Family; the National Association of Scholars; the National Endowment for Democracy; the Catholic University of America; and the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, as well as a former U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, a senior figure at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a former Director of National Intelligence.
The R20 Coalition Letter and its full list of signatories may be viewed by clicking on the image below.
The R20 was founded in 2022 by KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf, General Chairman of the world’s largest Muslim organization, Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama — which has over 100 million followers and 28,000 Islamic boarding schools. Frequently cited as one of the world’s 20 most influential Muslim leaders, Mr. Staquf is at the forefront of the Humanitarian Islam movement, a global effort to marginalize Islamist extremism and terror, and to restore rahmah (universal love and compassion) to its rightful place as a primary message of Islam.
On 20 May 2022, the Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board and the Center for Shared Civilizational Values (CSCV) agreed that CSCV would serve as the Permanent Secretariat of the G20 Religion Forum (R20). As such, CSCV is responsible for the ongoing implementation and management of the work of the R20. Members of the R20 Board include Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law (Emerita) at Harvard University; Professor Dr. Mahmud Erol Kılıç, Director General, Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC); Archbishop Felix Machado, Chairman of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences’ Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs; The Right Reverend Yoshinobu Miyake, Chairman of the International Shinto Studies Association; His Holiness Mahamahopadhyay Bhadreshdas Swami, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and senior monk of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS); and Rabbi Silvina Chemen of Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano.
In an interview, Ambassador Glendon told Religion News Service that Nahdlatul Ulama played a major role in establishing the G20 Religion Forum (R20):
“We would like to make the world aware that there is a battle going on for the soul of Islam between jihadist Islam, which has made such inroads in Europe, and this really beautiful humanitarian Islam that is practiced in Southeast Asia.”
Glendon said that she hoped the R20 would be a priority for the Trump administration because it would have a “strong appeal” to [his] religious base and also give the administration “the opportunity to showcase a form of Islam that has declared itself in favor of freedom of religion, of religious pluralism.”
“Muslims, Jews, and Christians should take their cue from Yahya Cholil Staquf… Moderates have to find the moral courage to speak out when their own religions are hijacked by extremists, just as Mr. Staquf has. When his courage and clarity become the norm we may have the chance to slay the dragon of hate.”
~ Rabbi Abraham Cooper
Former Chairman, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
In February 2024, Mr. Staquf accepted the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity on behalf of Nahdlatul Ulama. The prestigious Award was jointly conferred by the Holy See, Egypt’s al-Azhar University, and the Government of Abu Dhabi in recognition of NU’s “major role in spearheading global peace and diplomatic efforts.”
As reported by Religion News Service, the R20 Coalition Letter addressed to President Trump “also said the R20 could address the persecution of religious minorities, including Christians, Jews and Muslims and work towards counter-extremism efforts.”
In a related development, Centrist Democrat International — the world’s largest political network, whose affiliated parties currently govern 13 European nations, including Germany and Hungary — unanimously adopted a resolution at an Executive Committee meeting in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, which “Strongly encourages the U.S. Government to recognize an R20 International Summit of Religious Authorities (R20 ISORA) as an official G20 Main Event in 2026, in conjunction with the U.S. Presidency of the G20” and “Urges CDI member parties and all G20 Member States, including the United States of America, to prioritize long-term cooperation with the world’s major religions through the existing mechanism of the R20.”
Religion News Service — an independent, nonprofit, and award-winning news agency founded in 1934 that provides global coverage of religion, spirituality, culture, and ethics through objective reporting and insightful commentary — published an in-depth analysis of the R20 Coalition Letter on January 2, 2026. This article appears in full below. You may also download a PDF version of the article.
Cardinal Dolan, interfaith coalition press Trump to add religion forum to 2026 G20
Over 80 faith leaders sent President Donald Trump a letter urging him to build on his legacy as ‘a stalwart defender of peace and international religious freedom.’
FILE – World leaders attending the G20 Summit pose for a group photo in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
By Aleja Hertzler-McCain
January 2, 2026
(RNS) — A group of faith leaders, including several prominent conservatives, is pushing the Trump administration to formally include a religion engagement group within the Group of 20 summit, to be hosted at Trump’s golf club in the Miami area next December.
In November, over 80 leaders, led by New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan; Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center; former Vatican ambassador Mary Ann Glendon; and First Liberty Institute President Kelly Shackelford, sent President Donald Trump a letter urging him to build on his legacy as “a stalwart defender of peace and international religious freedom” and direct his administration “to officially recognize the Religion 20 Summit (R20) as part of America’s presidency of the G20 in 2026.”
The G20 intergovernmental forum was formed in 1999 to address global economic issues, comprising 21 members with large economies, including the U.S., European Union, China and Russia. Its presidency rotates each year.
The first time a religion forum was incorporated into the formal program of the G20 was 2022, when Indonesia hosted the summit. But subsequent G20 summits did not include a religion engagement group.
The founder of the R20 was Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf, the general secretary of the Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board, a large Muslim organization. Glendon told RNS in an interview that the Nahdlatul Ulama leadership played a major role in attracting an interfaith group for the R20. “We would like to make the world aware that there is a battle going on for the soul of Islam between jihadist Islam, which has made such inroads in Europe, and this really beautiful humanitarian Islam that is practiced in Southeast Asia.”
Glendon, an emeritus law professor at Harvard University, said that she hoped the R20 would be a priority for the Trump administration because it would have a “strong appeal” to a religious base and also give the administration “the opportunity to showcase a form of Islam that has declared itself in favor of freedom of religion, of religious pluralism.”
In her trips to Washington to advocate for the R20, Glendon said that Roger Severino, vice president of economic and domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, has been a key advocate, but Trump administration officials have yet to officially respond.
“ With four-fifths of the world’s population ascribing to a religion, a group like the G20 ought to take religion into consideration as it tries to achieve its laudable social and economic goals,” she said.
Dolan — whose retirement was set in motion last month when Pope Leo XIV appointed a successor to lead New York — also sent his own letters to Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, writing that “official recognition of the R20 offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to revitalize America’s founding vision on the global stage — affirming the God-given right of all people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — and leverage its revolutionary principles to recalibrate the trajectory of Western civilization and the world at large.”
In his note dated Nov. 14, Dolan wrote that the coalition backing the joint Nov. 10 letter had been assembled with the “generous support” of the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank embroiled in turmoil after its president defended Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview of antisemitic influencer Nick Fuentes.
FILE – Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York prays at the inauguration of Donald Trump in the U.S. Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Video screen grab)
Dolan emphasized religion as “the greatest source of soft power in much of the world” in his letters to Trump administration leaders. He wrote that recognizing the religion engagement group could help Trump achieve the interfaith dialogue portion of his “plan to end the Gaza conflict.”
In the lead-up to the conclave last year, Trump suggested to reporters that he’d like to see Dolan become pope. He also appointed Dolan to his Religious Liberty Commission.
The broader coalition letter told Trump that including a religion engagement group in the G20 could strengthen international partnerships, saying, “Religious leaders often have significant influence in their respective countries and can serve as valuable allies in advancing American interests and values globally.” It also said the R20 could address the persecution of religious minorities, including Christians, Jews and Muslims and work towards counter-extremism efforts.
Since 2014, an informal group called the G20 Interfaith Forum has met in the G20 host country to discuss global goals, including the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. The group says it “provides an important context for religious voices to contribute meaningful insight and recommendations that respond to and help shape the overall G20 and thus global policy agendas.” Last year, it met in August, months before the November G20 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The group of signatories urging a formal engagement group for the 2026 G20 is distinct from the leaders of the Interfaith Forum.
FILE – President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Beyond Kevin Roberts, the Heritage Foundation president, and the lead signatories, the coalition backing the letter includes Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom during the first Trump administration; several current and former commissioners on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom; Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family; Kristen Waggoner, CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom; the Rev. Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; and Zainab Al-Suwaij, the executive director of the American Islamic Congress.
The letter — dated a day before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops elected a new president — also includes former president Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who leads the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and the chair of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace, Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles. The signatories also include many prominent conservative Catholics, including R.R. Reno, editor at First Things magazine, and the presidents of many conservative Catholic colleges.
Memos supporting the religion engagement group acknowledged that getting the Trump administration’s backing for a new multilateral global initiative may be challenging. “Those committed to an America First agenda are rightly skeptical of the G20 and its constellation of globalist NGOs determined to leverage the annual G20 process to advance a wide array of agendas inimical to U.S. strategic interests and to the Trump Administration’s priorities,” a memo backing the R20 acknowledges.
But, it argues that “the Trump Administration may counter this globalist agenda while leveraging the G20 to produce a stronger, safer, and more prosperous America, and a more peaceful world,” by framing priorities in terms of “America’s founding traditions and principles, backed by the world’s major religions.”
“Unlike America’s constitutional tradition and system of ordered liberty, the French Revolution gave birth to a militant secular ideology that paved the way for Marxism, Socialism, and Communism,” the memo says. Referencing the recent election of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, it continues, “As may be seen from the recent election in New York City, present-day adherents of this ideology are viscerally opposed not only to America’s founding principles and traditions, but also to President Trump and his political agenda.”
Another memo backing the R20 writes that the religion engagement group would “foster a constructive and human-friendly environmental agenda rooted in traditional religious teachings that will discredit the secular left’s war on food and energy security, and simultaneously promote rational agricultural and energy policies” and “help end modern slavery, as exemplified by child labor in the mining of cobalt, an essential component of lithium batteries, and hence key to the globalists’ net zero agenda.”
In the official coalition letter, the leaders wrote to Trump, “The eyes of the world will be on you and America next year, and we pray you seize this opportunity to further cement your legacy as a stalwart defender of religious liberty when America’s security and spiritual well-being were under threat.”
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