Human rights expert Tina Ramirez to give annual Backus lecture at La Sierra

The lecture will take place Tues., Feb 12 at La Sierra’s Cossentine Hall Room 100 at 6 p.m. Ramirez, author of “Iraq: Hope in the Midst of Darkness,” will discuss how her organization, Hardwired Global, is fighting religious oppression around the globe through indigenous networks of leaders. Her talk is titled “Who Defends the Persecuted in Iraq, Nigeria, and Sudan?”

Along with her book, Ramirez was also an editor and contributing author of “Human Rights in the United States: A Dictionary and Documents.” She has 20 years of experience as a teacher, foreign policy expert, and authority on human rights law and religious freedom on an international scale. While working for the U.S. Congress, Ramirez founded the bipartisan International Religious Freedom Caucus. Through her work with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, she developed policy recommendations to protect persecuted peoples in Sudan, Iraq, Turkey, and Cuba.

Hardwired Global is a nonprofit, non-governmental human rights organization where Ramirez serves as president. During the lecture, Ramirez will share how Hardwired’s network of leaders, called Defenders of Freedom, have been established in 10 countries to defend freedom of conscience and belief without distinction. Together they are mobilizing local media to represent the voiceless, are changing laws, finding justice in the courts, and bringing to schools the message of the human right to freedom of conscience and religion. 

Ramirez will discuss how Hardwired has helped in inspiring the culture in Iraq, Sudan, and Nigeria toward alleviating the suffering of persecuted communities. She will share stories form these countries including ways Muslims and Christians are working together at great personal risk. 

Ramirez received a certificate at the International Institute for Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. At the University of Essex, England she received a master’s degree in international human rights. 

Appearing before the United Nations, African Union, and testifying before Congress, Ramirez has made a significant impact in the arena of religious freedom and human rights. For her work defending Islamic communities worldwide, she was awarded the Second Annual Ahmadiyya Muslim Humanitarian Award. Ramirez has served as a board member for the First Freedom Center and currently is secretary of the United Nations NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

The Isaac Backus American Freedoms Lectures are dedicated to Isaac Backus, a pastor, historian, and theologian who was instrumental in securing the separation of church and state in America. His faith in Christ was discovered at the age of 17 during the period of the Great Awakening. He went on to serve as a pastor of the First Baptist Church of Middleboro, Mass. until 1756. There he fought to repeal the taxes that every church was forced to pay to support the Congregationalist clergy. Along with his fight for religious freedom and his love for God, Backus was also a part of the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention where he voted to ratify the United States Constitution.

The Isaac Backus American Freedoms Lecture series is sponsored by the La Sierra University Department of History, Politics, and Sociology and the University Library. Lecture admission is free. La Sierra University is located at 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside. A campus map is available at https://lasierra.edu/map-and-directions/campus-map/. For further information call 951-785-2341.