[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 105 Introduced in House (IH)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 105
Calling for the protection of religious minority rights and freedoms
worldwide.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 11, 2015
Mr. Bridenstine (for himself and Mr. Walberg) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Calling for the protection of religious minority rights and freedoms
worldwide.
Whereas it is a human right for all peoples to enjoy the fundamental freedom of
religion, and the United States remains committed to promoting and
protecting those that have been marginalized and persecuted because of
their faith;
Whereas Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that
``everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and
religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief,
and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or
private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice,
worship, and observance'';
Whereas the freedom to worship by minority religious communities worldwide has
come under repeated and deadly attack, and often religious minorities
are regarded as enemies of the state;
Whereas the freedom to proselytize by minority religious communities has also
come under repeated and deadly attack in recent years through so-called
blasphemy laws and anti-conversion laws that are punishable by fines,
imprisonment, and death;
Whereas, on November 1, 2010, the deadliest ever recorded attack on Iraqi
Christians occurred at the Sayidat al-Nejat Catholic Cathedral located
in central Baghdad, where militants stormed the church and detonated 2
suicide vests filled with ball bearings, killing 58, including 2
priests, and wounding 78 parishioners;
Whereas, in November 2010, Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, was fined
$1,100 and sentenced to death by hanging for blasphemy, becoming the
first woman condemned to death on blasphemy charges in Pakistan, and
remains jailed today appealing her sentence;
Whereas, on December 29, 2011, the Shia religious leader Tajul Muluk's Islamic
boarding school in Madura Island, Indonesia, was burned down in an arson
attack by 300 anti-Shi'ite protestors, causing 500 Shia residents to
flee from their homes, and on January 1, 2012, the Indonesian Ulema
Council issued a fatwa against his teachings, leading to blasphemy
charges and the arrest of Muluk on April 12, 2012, in Sampang, where he
remains in prison;
Whereas, on July 28, 2012, Saeed Abedini, a Christian pastor with dual Iranian
and United States citizenship, was arrested on charges solely based on
his Christian faith, convicted, and sentenced to eight years in a brutal
Iranian prison where he remains today;
Whereas, on October 17, 2013, 10 bombs exploded in the minority Shi'ite
districts of Baghdad, killing 44 people, including 6 children, and on
that same day a suicide bomber drove into a village in the northern
province of Ninebeh, killing 15 Shabaks, who are mainly Shi'ites and are
viewed as apostates by extreme Sunni Islamists;
Whereas, on November 16, 2013, Zhang Shaojie, a member of Three-Self church and
pastor of the government-sanctioned Nanle County Christian Church,
China, was arrested, fined $16,000, and given a 12-year prison sentence
for ``gathering a crowd to disrupt the public order,'' in what is
believed to be retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of his
congregation and community;
Whereas, on May 15, 2014, a Sudanese Christian woman, Meriam Ibrahim, was
imprisoned and sentenced to death by hanging for allegedly committing
apostasy from Islam and faced constant pressure to renounce her faith of
Christianity while in prison, and only after immediate and sustained
pressure by the United States Senate and the Department of State was she
released and allowed to leave the country, settling in New Hampshire
with her husband and two children;
Whereas, on November 10, 2014, a young Christian Pakistani couple, Shama Bibi
and Sajjad Maseeh, who was four months pregnant with her fifth child,
were brutally beaten by a mob in Punjab Province, had their legs broken
so they could not flee, and were locked in a brick kiln to burn to death
while a crowd of 1,200 watched for alleged blasphemy of the desecration
of a Koran;
Whereas, since 2010, the Nigerian terrorist organization Boko Haram, which
translates to ``western education is a sin,'' has destroyed more than
1,000 churches across Nigeria, abducted hundreds of Christians to
forcibly convert to Islam, and in increasingly violent attacks beginning
in 2014, has killed more than 1,700 Christians;
Whereas, according to the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom, over 15,000 people in North Korea are presently incarcerated in
prison labor camps for attempting to practice their religion and face
constant abuse in attempts to force them to renounce their faith;
Whereas, since the beginning of its reign of terror, ISIL has sought to destroy
any person of faith that does not embrace their own perverted
interpretation of Islam, leading to the destruction of Jonah's tomb in
Mosul, the destruction of Sunni shrines and mosques in Ninevah, the
destruction of Christian churches in Syria, and the slaughter of anyone
who resists their teachings; and
Whereas seven Indian states have so-called ``anti-conversion'' apostasy laws
that require officials to assess the legality of conversions, and fine
and/or imprison those responsible for the conversions if it is
determined to be illegal: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) remains committed to protecting the human right and the
fundamental freedom of religion, especially those of religious
minorities;
(2) recognizes that government policies prohibiting the
freedom of thought and religion are designed to harass and
intimidate religious groups; and
(3) urges in the strongest terms that the United States
Government lead the international effort in calling for the
repeal of all existing apostasy and blasphemy laws.
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