Human Rights Commission Takes Freedom of Religion to Congress

On June 27th, 2019, Human Rights Organization took the issue of the world-wide threat of Freedom of Religion right to the halls of Congress.  Congressman Christopher Smith of New Jersey, Congressman Gus Bilirakis of Florida, and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota all attended a committee hearing to listen to human rights experts reveal just how widespread this persecution is.  The Panel who presented their information consisted of The Honorable Sam Brownback, the Ambassador for International Religious Freedom in the U.S. Department of State.  Nadine Maenza, the Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.  Dr. David Curry, President of Open Doors USA, and Thomas Farr, President of the Religious Freedom Institute.  

Ambassador Brownback stated in opening remarks that Christianity is under threat throughout the Middle East and that the Christian communities in many nations like Iraq and Syria are dwindling as a result.  In Iran, many Christians are jailed for their faith under the infamous Tehran Revolutionary Court that sentences Christians to prison for obscene charges such as "Enmity Against God, Corruption on Earth, and Disturbing National Security."  The Baha'i community is subjected to similar repression in Iran. As the Panel discussion continued, Representative Smith expressed concern over the Jihadist ideology that has spread throughout the region and states that this is the reason why so many Christians in the region have been subjected to ongoing communal violence and state-sanctioned persecution. Representative Smith made it very clear that Christians are the most persecuted religion in the world and that the U.S. minimizes persecution because we’re predominantly Christian and don’t want to seem biased.  This is a mistake.  Most Christians live outside the Western world.  They are also often part of ethnic minorities, meaning they’re even more persecuted.

Dr. David Curry, President of Open Doors, Testifying Before Congress

Though Iran and the spread of Jihadist intolerance was a central focus during the panel discussion, much was also said about China’s growing intolerance toward the numerous religious communities within their borders.  Ever since Mao Zedong seized power in the nation, the state has sought to manipulate, control, or eliminate all religion as they see religious faith as a challenge to the Chinese Communist Party.  Every religious group within the nation is subject to persecution, whether they're Buddhists in Tibet, Christians, Muslims, or Falun Gong.  Currently, thousands of Muslim Uyghurs are being held in Chinese Prison Camps, Christian Churches are begin destroyed, and both Muslim Uyghurs and practitioners of Falun Gong have been murdered and harvested for their organs.  The Panel revealed that the religious persecution in China has been the most severe time in modern history with the exception of the time-period of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution.  
The Panel brought other nations of concern onto the table, including Eretria, Burma, and Vietnam, both of which engage in governed level persecution of numerous Christian and non-Christian religions.  India, Nigeria, and the Central African Republic were also brought before the panel as all three nations experience significant persecution at the hand’s radical nationalist groups and insurgent forces while the governments in charge are taking ineffective action against the perpetrators.  Both the Panel Members and the Congressional Delegates reached agreement that the persecution of any religion by government or society is a threat to free religion everywhere, and that action must be taken.  Proposals such as economic sanctions, withholding of trade agreements with nations until religious rights are protected and prejudicial teachings halted, pressuring governments to take stronger action against violent insurgent groups, and the turning over of persecuting military leaders to the International Community for War Crimes Investigation are all solutions that are proposed.  The strongest push by Representative Smith was the encouragement of Round-Table Discussions between religious leaders throughout the world as well as the establishment of an effective Grassroots campaign that involves both government agencies and human rights organizations to address the issue of religious freedom all over the world.  

 Link to Panel Video





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hamas Invasion of Israel

Image
The brutal invasion of Israel by Hamas caught the entire world by surprise.  Over the last few years Israel has become accustomed to turning back rocket attacks and occasional cross-border raids by Hamas terrorists, but nobody anticipated this brutal full-out invasion.  Already being dubbed as "Israel's 9/11," militants stormed across the Gaza border and attacked towns across southern Israel.  Already over 900 Israelis are confirmed dead, thousands more wounded, and over 100 hostages, including women & children, have been taken back to Gaza ( Video Footage of Massacres ).   Israeli Woman Taken Hostage by Hamas The deadliest massacre so far took place at the Nova Music Festival in the Negev Desert close to Urim, a Jewish community that lives close to the Gaza Strip.  At 6am on Oct. 7th, the attack on the festival began as rockets rained down and Hamas gunmen appeared and opened fire.  As of now over 260 Israelis are confirmed dead from this attack alone with a number o
Read more

Jihadists World-Wide Celebrate Massacres in Israel

Image
The Plague of Jihad is all over the world.  The past few days has witnessed Israel suffer the most horrific attack that it has endured since the October War of 1973, yet for all of the senseless death, for all of the footage that we see of Hamas militants murdering Israelis in cold blood, many in the world are in fact celebrating this atrocity.   Hamas Supporters in Canada In Iran, crowds of Hamas supporters took to the streets to celebrate the slaughter of Israelis by Hamas while their government leaders lavished praise on the terrorists ( Link to Article ).  In the nation of Turkey, Hamas supporters crowded the streets of Istanbul chanting "Allahu Akbar" & "Khaybar Khaybar Ya Yahud" ( Link to Video ).  "Khaybar Khaybar ya yahud, jaish Muhammad soufa ya'oud" is the full version of the chant.  It translates to "Khaybar Khaybar or Jews, the Army of Muhammad will return."  For those unfamiliar with the context of this chant, Khaybar was the
Read more

Hamas and Their Child Soldier Training Camps

Image
For years the world has known that Hamas deliberately targets children for indoctrination and training to carry out terrorist missions.  They have camps throughout Gaza and other areas of the Middle East where children are taught to hate, & trained to kill.  These camps are often referred to as "Summer Youth Camps."  The titles sound harmless enough, but unlike the summer youth camps in the U.S. and other Western nations where children play games, do crafts, and in general, have fun, the Hamas "Summer Youth Camps" are nothing like this.  They're training camps, where children are trained in weapons handling, military drills, and are indoctrinated to "hate the Infidel," particularly Jews.   Link to Video On videos that have circulated across the online world, these children have openly confessed that they have come here for the purpose of learning to fight.  One such video surfaced on MEMRI with a child openly stating "We did not come here to e
Read more