(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 member 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 Mu …