[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 166 (Friday, December 21, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1989-E1990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SPEECH ON DETERIORATING SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST PARTICULARLY FOR
RELIGIOUS MINORITIES
______
HON. FRANK R. WOLF
of virginia
in the house of representatives
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share a speech I recently gave
on the deteriorating situation in the Middle East particularly for
religious minorities. Increasing violence, targeted attacks and
heightened discrimination against Christians and other religious
minorities in Iraq and Egypt, combined with longstanding abuses in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, are among the many reasons why I introduced
H.R. 440, bipartisan legislation that would require the State
Department to appoint a special envoy to advocate for religious
minorities.
More than a year has passed since the House of Representatives
overwhelmingly passed this legislation yet, today, both this bill and
its Senate companion, S. 1245 are both languishing in the Senate. This
is deeply disappointing. Even more disappointing is the fact that the
State Department has urged Senator Jim Webb to oppose this bipartisan
legislation and put a hold on it in the Senate.
Time is running out--both in terms of the legislative calendar for
this year and in terms of the survival of these communities. Will a
special envoy guarantee these communities' protection in the lands they
have inhabited for centuries? No one can predict for sure. But I am
certain that to do nothing is not an option--lest on the State
Department's and Congress' watch we witness a Middle East empty of
faith communities, foremost among them the beleaguered Christian
community.
Here is the text of my recent speech:
Just one year ago my good friend, the late Chuck Colson was
given [the Edwin Meese Award for Religious Liberty] award for
his tireless efforts to promote religious liberty and human
dignity. His prophetic voice is sorely missed during these
trying times for our country. For these are indeed trying
times--times that demand men and women of faith to steel
themselves for the challenges ahead. Are we prepared to do
so?
I take inspiration from the German Lutheran pastor Dietrich
Bonhoeffer who, faced with the tyranny and horror of Nazism
gave his very life. And the British parliamentarian William
Wilberforce, who labored for decades, against seemingly
insurmountable odds, to abolish the slave trade in England--
ultimately inspiring abolitionist efforts in America. These
are just some of the giants on whose shoulders we stand.
Ecclesiastes 4:1 says, ``I saw the tears of the oppressed,
and they have no comforter; power was on the side of the
oppressor.'' Oppression has marked the church since its
birth. Consider the chilling words of Roman historian Tacitus
regarding the early church:
``Besides being put to death they were made to serve as
objects of amusement; they were clad in the hides of beasts
and torn to death by dogs; others were crucified, others set
on fire to serve to illuminate the night when daylight
failed--. . . .''
Are such trials reserved for the history books? Hardly.
Every day, around the world, men and women of faith are
imprisoned, beaten, detained, tortured and even killed. And
yet such stories receive scant attention in the mainstream
media--and perhaps more strikingly, are rarely spoken of from
our pulpits. The book of Hebrews enjoins us to ``Remember
those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and
those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were
suffering.'' Do we suffer with our brethren? Have we in the
West ceased to be salt and light? Has our comfort led to
complacency? Consider that on our watch a historic exodus of
Christians from the Middle East is underway--an exodus fueled
by persecution.
A phrase not often heard outside the majority Muslim world
is ``First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people.'' The
``Saturday people'' are of course the Jews. Their once
vibrant communities in countries throughout the region are
now decimated. In 1948 there were roughly 150,000 Jews in
Iraq--today less than 10 remain. In Egypt, there were once as
many as 80,000 Jews and now less than 100 remain.
It appears a similar fate could befall the ancient
Christian community in these same lands. Iraq's Christian
population has fallen from as many as 1.4 million in 2003 to
between 500,000 and 700,000. Churches have been targeted,
believers kidnapped for ransom, families threatened with
violence if they stay. This reality is all the more sobering
considering Iraq's significance in Christendom. With the
exception of Israel, the Bible contains more references to
the cities, regions and nations of ancient Iraq than any
other country. The patriarch Abraham came from a city in Iraq
called Ur. Isaac's bride, Rebekah, came from northwest Iraq.
Jacob spent 20 years in Iraq and his sons (the 12 tribes of
Israel) were born in northwest Iraq. A remarkable spiritual
revival as told in the book of Jonah occurred in Nineveh. The
events of the book of Esther took place in Iraq as did the
account of Daniel in the Lion's Den. Furthermore, many of
Iraq's Christians still speak Aramaics the language of Jesus.
In Egypt with the ascent of the Muslim Brotherhood, Coptic
Christians,
[[Page E1990]]
numbering roughly 8-10 million, are leaving in droves. And
the Middle East is far from being the exception. Persecution
is on the rise. The International Day of Prayer for the
Persecuted Church was earlier this month. Given the picture I
just painted, one would think the church in the West would be
galvanized. But how many churches marked this occasion with
even a passing mention? If the faith community isn't engaged
are we surprised when our government leaders turn a blind eye
to matters of religious freedom?
Consider the following: Bipartisan legislation to create a
Special Envoy position at the State Department charged with
advocating on behalf of religious minorities in the Middle
East and South Central Asia overwhelmingly passed the House a
year and a half ago. But it has remained stalled in the
Senate as a result of State Department opposition and the
refusal of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John
Kerry, rumored to be in the running for Secretary of State or
Defense, to even hold a hearing on the legislation.
Day in, day out I have the privilege of meeting individuals
who boldly follow Jesus despite unbelievably hostile
circumstances. Shabbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's Federal Minister
for Minority Affairs, and the only Christian Member of the
cabinet and an outspoken critic of his country's blasphemy
laws, was one such man. On March 2, 2011 he was murdered, his
car riddled with bullets, leaving his mother's house for
work. In a video filmed shortly before his assassination,
Bhatti appears to sense that the path he has chosen will come
with a price.
When asked about the threats against his life, he said,
without malice or fear, ``I believe in Jesus Christ who has
given his own life for us. I know what is the meaning of
[the] cross. And I am following the cross. And I am ready to
die for a cause.'' And so he did.
The book of Proverbs tells us to ``Speak up for those who
cannot speak for themselves. . . .'' Bhatti can no longer
speak. The Chinese bishop under house arrest cannot speak.
The North Korean enslaved in the gulag cannot speak. The
Iraqi nun fearing for her life cannot speak.
Will we be their voice? Martin Luther King famously said,
``In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends.'' Are we not their friends?
America's Founding Fathers grounded our own experiment in
self-governance in the notion that liberty comes from God and
that all human life is sacred. As part of this equation,
religious freedom was the ``first freedom.'' The ideas set
forth in Philadelphia on that hot summer day were
simultaneously ancient and revolutionary--they are grounded
in historic Judeo-Christian teachings.
Nearly 25 years ago these very ideas were a source of
inspiration to the democracy marchers in Tiananmen Square.
Ronald Reagan famously spoke of our founding documents as a
covenant we made with the world--a promise that transcended
time and place. I fear that covenant is in jeopardy.
America's influence is waning. Our once ``shining city''
appears dim. And we have lost our voice on behalf of the
oppressed. And yet, dissidents still seek refuge in our
embassies, the persecuted seek safe haven on our shores. To
them the promise of American exceptionalism is no mere
philosophical debate; it is the difference between life and
death. They cling to the promise even as our own leaders have
abandoned it. And so, seeking to preserve that covenant that
Reagan envisioned, it falls to men and women of faith to
carry the torch--to pray, to advocate, to act.
____________________