[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 22, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E45-E46]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                A CLARION CALL FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 22, 2013

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I submit a letter I recently sent to over 
three hundred national faith leaders encouraging them to use their 
platform and lend their voice to the cause of the persecuted church 
globally.

       Dear Friend: Christians worldwide just celebrated the birth 
     of Jesus. For those of us living in the West, this was a 
     festive season marked by worship services, gift-giving and 
     time with family and friends. But for our brethren in the 
     Middle East, fear of persecution and outright violence or 
     even death cast a long dark shadow over the Christmas 
     holiday.
       While most striking in the Middle East, given the ancient 
     roots of Christianity in that part of the world, the 
     challenges facing those believers are by no means isolated, 
     nor are they anything ``new under the sun.''
       Ecclesiastes 4:1 says, ``I saw the tears of the oppressed, 
     and they have no comforter; power was on the side of the 
     oppressor.'' As you well know, 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. . .''
       Every day, around the world, men and women of faith are 
     imprisoned, beaten, detained, tortured and even killed. 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?

[[Page E46]]

       Consider that on our watch a historic exodus of Christians 
     from the Middle East is underway--an exodus fueled by 
     persecution.
       German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, faced with the 
     tyranny and horror of Nazism, famously said, ``Silence in the 
     face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to 
     act is to act.''
       And that is precisely what many in the church did, or 
     failed to do, as Hitler unleashed his murderous plans. I 
     recently encountered this haunting account by a German 
     Christian in the book When a Nation Forgets God:
       ``I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust. I 
     considered myself a Christian. We heard stories of what was 
     happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves 
     from it, because, what could anyone do to stop it?
       A railroad track ran behind our small church and each 
     Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and 
     then the wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed 
     when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed 
     by. We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in the 
     cars!
       Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear 
     the sound of those wheels because we knew that we would hear 
     the cries of the Jews en route to a death camp. Their screams 
     tormented us.
       We knew the time the train was coming and when we heard the 
     whistle blow we began singing hymns. By the time the train 
     came past our church we were singing at the top of our 
     voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon 
     we heard them no more.
       Years have passed and no one talks about it anymore. But I 
     still hear that train whistle in my sleep. God forgive me; 
     forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians and yet did 
     nothing to intervene.''
       The parallels are imperfect but the sentiments are the 
     same. Has our comfort led to complacency? Can the church in 
     the West be galvanized to act?
       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; now less than 100 remain.
       It appears a similar fate awaits 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 today. Churches have been targeted, 
     believers kidnapped for ransom and families threatened with 
     violence if they stay. In October 2010, Islamist extremists 
     laid siege on Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church in 
     Baghdad killing over 50 hostages and police and wounding 
     dozens more.
       In Egypt with the ascent of the Muslim Brotherhood, Coptic 
     Christians, numbering roughly 8 to 10 million, are leaving in 
     droves. Ironically, some 2,000 years ago, the Holy Family 
     sought refuge in this same land from the murderous aims of 
     King Herod.
       In the midst of devastating bloodshed in Syria, the 
     Christian population is particularly vulnerable. A recent ABC 
     News story reported, ``They [Christians] are fearful that 
     Syria will become another Iraq, with Christians caught in the 
     crossfire between rival Islamic groups.''
       Over the span of a few decades, the Middle East, with the 
     exception of Israel, was virtually emptied of Jews. The same 
     thing will happen to the Christian community if the current 
     trajectory holds true. And yet, the silence of many in the 
     West is deafening. Such stories receive scant attention in 
     the mainstream media, and perhaps more strikingly, are rarely 
     spoken of from our pulpits.
       A recent study on Christian persecution released by the 
     British-based think tank Civitas explained the media's 
     seeming ambivalence this way: ``Parts of the media have been 
     influenced by the logical error that equates criticism of 
     Muslims with racism, and therefore as wrong by definition. 
     This has further distracted attention away from the hounding 
     of Christians, helping to cement the surprisingly widespread 
     idea that Christianity is a `Western' faith.''
       And yet, we in the church ought to know better. The Middle 
     East is the very cradle of Christendom. Consider Iraq: 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 Aramaic, the language of Jesus.
       So how do we account for the Church's indifference? Is it 
     political correctness? Lack of awareness? What tragedy must 
     befall this community before we are propelled to act?
       The persecution plaguing the Middle East is no exception. 
     Christians are targeted throughout the world in countries 
     like China, Vietnam and Pakistan. According to the Civitas 
     study, ``More Christians are imprisoned in China than in any 
     other country in the world.'' If the faith community in the 
     West isn't engaged, are we surprised when 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 
     of Representatives more than a year and a half ago. But it 
     remained stalled in the Senate as a result of State 
     Department opposition and the refusal of the chairman of the 
     Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and presumptive secretary 
     of state, John Kerry, to even hold a hearing on the 
     legislation.
       I have had 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 (accessible on my Web 
     site at http://wolf.house.gov/bhattivideo), 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 believer enslaved in the gulag can't speak. 
     The Iraqi nun fearing for her life cannot speak.
       Will we be their voice? Martin Luther King, Jr. 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?
       The Church globally is under assault. Our response must not 
     be to simply sing more loudly, thereby drowning out the cries 
     for help from our brothers and sisters. Rather we must speak 
     out, advocate and act on their behalf.
       From my perspective the Church in the West, specifically in 
     America, is failing in this regard. Can you, as a leader in 
     the Church, help? Are you pained by these accounts of 
     persecution? Do you have ideas about how best to respond? 
     Will you use your sphere of influence to raise the profile of 
     this issue--be it through a sermon, writing or media 
     interview? I welcome your thoughts and invite your engagement 
     in this monumental task.
       Next week, when Congress reconvenes, I intend to 
     reintroduce the special envoy legislation and press for 
     passage in both houses of Congress. I don't pretend to think 
     that a special envoy will single-handedly solve the problem, 
     but it certainly can't hurt to have a high-level person 
     within the State Department bureaucracy who is exclusively 
     focused on the protection and preservation of these ancient 
     communities. Furthermore, to do nothing is simply not an 
     option.
       We in the West must speak out on behalf of the persecuted 
     church around the world.
       Best wishes.
           Sincerely,
                                                    Frank R. Wolf,
                                               Member of Congress.
       P.S. I know you are busy and have so many competing 
     priorities but your involvement could really make a 
     difference in the lives of believers around the world.

                          ____________________