“Religious freedom is a non-partisan issue,” said a written statement by Jeff Hunt, director of the Centennial Institute and vice president of public policy for Colorado Christian University.

Hunt invited all Democratic presidential candidates and Morgan Carroll, chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party.

This is a friendly invitation for inter-party collaboration in a country divided by a cold civil war of political hostility. Conservatives, liberals and moderates have not always been at war. As recently as the 1990s, both major political parties worked together toward positive outcomes for humanity.

We cannot think of a better issue than defense of religious liberty and free speech to unite Americans of all political persuasions around something bigger than domestic political strife. The rights codified in the First Amendment inspired America’s founders to risk their lives creating a country that values individual liberty above all else.

Building on those liberties, our country eliminated slavery within its boundaries. We used these liberties to create a country welcoming to people associated with every religion in the world.

Meanwhile, humans remain enslaved, tortured and killed throughout the world for beliefs, words, and immutable traits. Tyranny festers where governments do not uphold fundamental human dignity and basic civil rights.

Christians, Jews, Muslims and others experience extreme persecution from the atheist government of North Korea. Hindu nationalism fuels persecution of religious minorities in India. Theocratic rulers impose Islamic law, while oppressing “infidels,” in Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan, Yemen, Iran, Syria and more.

In Myanmar, Buddhist nationalism oppresses Muslims and other non-Buddhists.

Open Doors, a Christian organization that monitors religious persecution worldwide, identifies 50 countries in which people endure “high,” “very high” and “extreme” persecution.