Ever since the November elections, we?ve been hearing a lot of talk about the ?values voters? who made such an impact. There are many in this country who believe that ?values voters? are people to fear?that we just want to suppress everyone else?s point of view.

If you know someone who feels that way, I have a suggestion for you. Give that person a copy of Professor Allen Hertzke?s new book, Freeing God?s Children: The Unlikely Alliance for Global Human Rights. And while you?re at it, get a copy for yourself, because this is one book every Christian ought to read. No other recent book that I know of has explained so well how the expression of Christian views in the public square actually benefits the public good.

Hertzke explores how religious persecution?an issue that for years was largely ignored?has suddenly come to the forefront. He cites the Church?s role behind the Iron Curtain, a renewed emphasis on human rights by the Catholic Church after the second Vatican Council, and the emergence of a strong, active evangelical network as the reasons for why this has happened. Hertzke gives a detailed account of efforts by Christians to advance the cause of human rights. He goes so far as to write, ?One cannot understand international relations today without comprehending the new faith-based movement?a bold assertion but one that will be borne out in the coming years.?

Hertzke, who is on the faculty of the University  of Oklahoma, writes from behind the scenes. Over the last several years, he has sat in meetings, attended events, and interviewed activists. He gives a thrilling first-hand account of the campaign to stop slavery in the Sudan?yes, as BreakPoint listeners know, slavery has continued into the twenty-first century. But through the Wilberforce Forum, which he writes about, and other groups, pressure was brought to bring it to an end. Similarly, evangelical groups were behind the campaign to start bringing help to AIDS victims in Africa, something even the New York Times noted this past year. He talks further about how Christians, working with a Jewish lawyer, a former editor of the New York Times, and an odd alliance of conservatives and liberals, organized a campaign to stop sexual trafficking worldwide?one of the great abominations of modern times.