Former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, now U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, on Monday vouched for U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn’s advocacy of religion as the six-term congressman enters the homestretch of his re-election bid.

Lamborn referenced last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Masterpiece Cakeshop, but he didn’t address religious freedoms in the U.S., pulling the focus to an international scale.

“So obviously, these are burning issues here domestically, but Ambassador Brownback is concentrating on the international side of things,” the Colorado Springs Republican said at a town hall the two held at Glen Eyrie in Colorado Springs.

Brownback said Muslims face persecution worldwide, and the Trump administration views religious freedom as a key foreign policy issue. Brownback said he would like to see the U.S. link aid programs to religious freedom.

The Muslim community now is observing its holy month of Ramadan, he said, while Myanmar and China persecute Muslims and prevent them from practicing their faith. “They wouldn’t be persecuted if they were of a different faith,” Brownback said.

Trump was criticized last week for inviting only foreign diplomats to a White House iftar dinner, the breaking of the daily fast during Ramadan. The president also is awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on the implementation of his travel ban on people from several Muslim majority countries.

The iftar dinner “was well attended by the Muslim community,” Brownback said. “It was the diplomatic community they targeted to have there, but I sat with ambassadors from Muslim countries, and they were there from all over the world. We’re working side-by-side with many in the Muslim community.”

As governor of Kansas, Brownback signed a bill that barred state courts from consulting Islamic, or Sharia, law.

Lamborn applauded the Trump administration’s fight for religious freedom, saying the administration is pushing the commitment internationally.

The State Department will hold a religious freedom gathering July 24-27 with foreign secretaries of state, non-governmental organizations and religious leaders. Brownback declined to say which countries would be invited.

Promotion for the event comes shortly after the State Department released its annual report on global religious freedom.

“Seventy percent of the world’s people live in a religiously restricted environment where there’s some form of restriction. In some cases, it’s subtle. In other cases, deadly,” Brownback said. “We think that’s intolerable, wrong, and we’re going to do something about it.”

Last month, U.S. District Judge Phillip Brimmer overruled the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to keep Lamborn off the primary ballot after the revelation that a petition gatherer working for his campaign did not live in the state.

Lamborn faces four opponents in the June 26 GOP primary: El Paso County commissioner Darryl Glenn, state Sen. Owen Hill, former Green Mountain Falls Mayor Tyler Stevens and former Texas judge Bill Rhea.

The State Department event next month, along with Lamborn’s invitation to Brownback to visit Colorado Springs, drew attention from community religious leaders. Andrew Wommack, of Andrew Wommack Ministries, asked at Monday’s town hall how to address religious persecution in the U.S.

“I believe that the First Amendment talked about freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. If someone disagrees or doesn’t want to hear that, they shouldn’t be forced to,” Lamborn said. “They should be able to ignore a religious message, but that doesn’t mean shutting down the person who wants to deliver that religious message. People are very easily offended in our country. Sometimes we just need to lighten up some and be a little more tolerant.”