[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 26 (Friday, February 26, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON RELIGIOUS 
                           MINORITIES IN IRAQ

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. CANDICE S. MILLER

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 23, 2010

  Mrs. MILLER of Michigan. Madam Speaker, I rise today as a proud co-
sponsor in strong support of H. Res. 944, expressing the sense of the 
House of Representatives on religious minorities in Iraq.
  Freedom of religion is the beating heart of our American historical 
and political experience. After all, it was the search for a place to 
worship in liberty and dignity that led to the European settlement of 
this continent.
  Our American founding fathers placed paramount importance on the 
right to worship freely and securely, as clear from the first amendment 
to our Constitution, which enshrines the right to free exercise of 
religion.
  We are grateful to live in a country where it is safe to worship 
according to the dictates of one's conscience. We cherish these rights 
and privileges because we know that in many parts of the world--
including Iraq--not all religious minorities can worship as they wish.
  Historically, Iraq is one of the richest and most diverse religious 
mosaics in the world. Its Christian traditions can be traced back to 
the Christian apostles. Yet Iraq today is in a moment of crisis, for 
many of its smallest and most vulnerable religious minorities are 
threatened by the ugly forces of intolerance and intimidation in Iraq.
  In recent years, there has been an alarming surge in Iraq of physical 
and psychological violence against religious minorities, and we must do 
our part to encourage the emphatic rejection of such violence by the 
Iraqi state and society.
  While all Iraqis have suffered greatly in past years, the suffering 
has been most acutely felt by its religious minorities, including 
Chaldeans, Syriacs, Assyrians, and other Christians. Many hundreds of 
thousands of Iraqi Christians have already fled Iraq to escape 
religious turmoil, many of them settling in my own home state of 
Michigan. How this crisis is resolved will be an indicator of the 
future that awaits Iraq.
  Iraq's development into a sovereign, stable, and secure country is of 
immense strategic importance and political responsibility to the United 
States. The world should know that the United States stands with the 
Iraqi people and its elected government against the forces of 
radicalism and intolerance.
  H. Res. 944 advances Iraq's trajectory towards a future of diversity, 
pluralism, and freedom. It will help to internalize and 
institutionalize an environment where religious minorities are 
protected by the Iraqi government.
  Informed by our own American experience, we in this House are obliged 
to encourage Iraq to value the rights and privileges of its religious 
minorities. There is too much at stake for Iraq to fail them. And 
neither can we.

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