[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 172 (Thursday, December 5, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H7562-H7565]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS WORLDWIDE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Gohmert) for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the majority
leader.
Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, as a follow-up to my dear friend, Frank
Wolf from Virginia and the discussions he was having, this needs
further emphasis.
Here is an article from the Dallas Morning News dated 10 November
2013, ``The Triple Tragedy of Christian Persecution in the Middle
East.'' It explains that Christians in the broader Middle East, it
seems, are in the crosshairs.
In September, two Taliban suicide bombers rushed All Saints Church in
Peshawar, Pakistan, as worshippers exited. One exploded his bomb
outside, one inside. Eighty-two people were slaughtered. Eighty-two
people trying to peacefully attend a Christian church in Pakistan,
where we are sending so much money, were slaughtered, with no
consequences coming from the Pakistani Government that we keep
engorging with our money.
Back to the article.
In March, it says, two churches and about 100 Christian homes were
ransacked in Lahore. Today, millions of Christians and other religious
minorities are facing vile persecution. Many Christians are struggling
to escape from the countries where their ancestors have lived for two
millennia. The human tragedy unfolding in these countries is profoundly
disturbing, but the tragedy extends beyond the suffering of individuals
and families.
Next month, in Rome, Georgetown University, in partnership with
Baylor University, where I went to law school, will showcase the
findings of a 2-year study on Christianity and freedom. Three dozen
scholars will assemble to discuss what Christians have contributed to
freedom and prosperity in their own country and, implicitly, what will
be lost if those countries are emptied of their Christian populations.
Might be worthy of parenthetically inserting that, in Afghanistan,
where thousands of Americans have shed their blood for Afghan freedom,
where billions and billions of dollars have been spent, we help them
with a constitution that makes shari'a law the law of the land, that
makes the President, basically, almost a dictator.
As some of the regional leaders have told me, Dana Rohrabacher, Steve
King, and others, look, if you would just help us with an amendment to
the Afghanistan constitution, we would have a shot at staying alive
after you pull out.
The Northern Alliance that actually defeated the Taliban completely
within a few months after we started providing them aerial support,
embedded special ops, and intelligence, less than 500, they defeated
the Taliban, provided some weapons. They defeated the Taliban.
{time} 1415
People have forgotten, but for years, in Iraq, people referred to
Afghanistan--even Senator Obama. That is where the real fight is. That
was where it was done well. And it was done well.
The Taliban was defeated. It was routed by some of the most
incredible and fearless fighting, led by General Dostum. We have got
people in this administration now calling him and others war criminals
because they fought for themselves, their own freedom, to rid
themselves of tyrannical radical Islamists. They are Muslims. They are
my Muslim friends. They defeated our enemy. They are the enemy of our
enemy. And yet this administration is releasing Taliban.
One of the Taliban leaders that has been on national Afghan
television was released from Guantanamo by this administration for
humanitarian purposes. And the humanitarian purposes are, now he is
back leading the Taliban and making it clear that the Taliban will
control all of Afghanistan once the United States pulls out. He likes
to talk in terms of how the U.S. has been greatly defeated, and that is
why we are begging the Taliban, offering to buy them things, give them
things if they will just let us exit gracefully.
We are embarrassed around the world. We do no longer have the world's
respect. There are a lot of countries that have never admired us.
Tyrannical leaders have not admired the United States because we are
the only nation, that I am aware of, in the history of the world that
shed our blood and our treasure for other people to have freedom. That
is why they still speak Japanese in Japan. That is why they still speak
German in Germany. We have never been about building some great empire.
We have been about freedom, liberty. No other country has done that. No
other country has died for the cause of liberty for people they didn't
know.
And now it seems that this administration keeps committing us to
support countries that are persecuting Christians, persecuting
secularists, persecuting those who do not have the strict radical
Islamist beliefs that the radical Islamic believers have, the leaders,
as radical Islamist believers have.
This article in the Dallas News goes on and says:
The countries include Egypt, where the holy family fled
when Jesus was a baby. Many Christians now are exiting Egypt
in the wake of the badly misnamed ``Arab Spring.'' In August
alone, scores of churches were torched, some of them dating
to the fifth century.
They include Syria, Paul's destination when he was called
by Jesus. Today, many Syrian Christians have fled, fearing
the prospects of an Islamist regime. One village,
[[Page H7563]]
Maaloula, is one of the last places on Earth where Aramaic,
the language of Jesus, is still spoken. In September, it was
overrun by Islamist terrorists.
Those, by the way, are the Islamist rebels that this administration
is supporting.
It has been publicly reported, this administration--without Congress
making a move to stop them--has sent tons and tons of weapons to the
radical Islamist rebels in Syria who are killing, raping, and torturing
Christians in Syria.
If there is a God, as I know with all my heart there is, if the God
that had his protective hand on Israel--until Israel stopped honoring
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--if that God exists, as I know in
my heart he does, then how long will he continue to have a hand of
protection on a nation that has, in the last 2 years, repeatedly
betrayed and stabbed Israel in the back, taken whatever actions it
could to prevent Israel from defending itself, and in this last act of
ignorance, in trying to negotiate with Iranian terrorist leaders who
want the little Satan, Israel, wiped off the map--they made that very
clear--who want the great Satan, the United States, wiped out the map.
Of course they will talk to the United States. Of course. They are
working as allies with North Korea. And North Korea can explain to
them, as we have talked about here on the floor, how in 1994 they
convinced Bill Clinton, Madeline Albright, and Wendy Sherman, who was
the policy director for North Korea for the Clinton administration, to
do a deal where the United States would give them nuclear reactors,
help them, get them running, fuel, whatever they needed, and in return,
we were basically asking them to renounce nuclear weapons and promise
they wouldn't develop nuclear weapons. And we additionally agreed to
not be inspecting their nuclear facilities, which actually allowed them
to develop the nuclear bombs and the ballistic missiles by which they
are assisting Iran.
Wendy Sherman actually briefed this Congress this week. She is the
lead negotiator for the Obama administration. I mean, that makes as
much sense as an administration hiring a company to do an absolutely
essential critical Web site for people's health and well-being as
someone who has no track record of being terribly successful. I mean,
surely an administration wouldn't do that. Oh, yes, they did do that
with ObamaCare. Oh, yes, they are doing it in negotiating with
terrorist thugs who want us wiped off the map.
I mean, this is the same kind of inane thinking that would have an
American President in the 1970s proclaiming the Ayatollah Khomeini as a
man of peace when he was a terrorist and took over a nation and its
military, for the first time in generations that a terrorist Islamic
leader had been the leader of a country with a powerful military.
Here is another article, from Townhall.com, December 5, 2013, by Conn
Carroll:
Violence against Christians is rising across the Middle
East. Open Doors USA's CEO David Curry investigates for the
December issue of Townhall magazine.
Christians in the Middle East and around the world are
being persecuted, imprisoned, and martyred for their faith.
There is widespread, systematic violence, and no one in the
mainstream media and government seems to have noticed. We may
see the elimination and extinction of Christianity in its
very birthplace, without a whimper of protest from the West.
I have got to say, if the God who protected Israel in its inception
through many generations until they stopped honoring the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--which, by the way, no country has ever
fallen while it was truly honoring the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. So if you were completely a-religious, completely atheistic, but
you wanted to have a free country and you wanted to have it safe and
protected, then it would sound like, from historical purposes, that it
might be a good thing to encourage those who believe in God to keep
doing so, because when a nation's leaders honor that God, that nation
is protected. It is only when it turns away that it falls.
The article goes on:
Middle Eastern Christians are not persecuted because they
are criminals, anarchists, or for participating in uncivil
behavior. They are persecuted because of what they believe.
They are not promoting any particular political party or
agenda. They simply want the freedom of faith and religion
that Americans experience every day.
It is puzzling why most of our media and political leaders
remain silent, despite overwhelming evidence of a major
humanitarian crisis. When the scope of the persecution is
seen, it's hard to understand how this could have slipped
under the radar of nearly all our leaders in Washington. One
is left wondering if the oversight is intentional or
merely a giant blind spot the size of the entire Middle
Eastern region.
Consider what occurred during a 4-week period during August
and September: Syrian rebels attacked the historic Christian
enclave of Maaloula, damaging some iconic churches while
driving out most of the Christians as well as other
residents.
Jihadi terrorists blew up a church in Peshawar, Pakistan,
taking more than 85 lives and injuring many more. After the
attack, Pakistani Christians protested in the streets, to no
avail, demanding protection of their churches and schools,
which are under daily threat of harassment and destruction.
Muslim Brotherhood forces in Egypt attacked and burned 73
churches, hundreds of Christian-owned businesses, properties,
and schools.
These are but a handful of attacks that make news. Each
day, Christians in the Middle East are suffering all manner
of indignities for their faith. Those include destruction of
property, harassment, targeted rape of Christian women, and a
legal system that ignores the rights due to their faith. Many
governments fail to pursue, capture, and prosecute jihadist
radicals who perpetrate these crimes against Christ's
followers.
Then it goes on to talk about a broader pattern. Leadership in a
vacuum.
An article from Crossmap.com says:
One Christian Killed Every 11 Minutes: U.K. Parliament is
Told Christianity is ``Most Persecuted Religion.''
The plight of Christians around the world was discussed in
a 3-hour debate at the Houses of Parliament in London
yesterday. Members of the House of Commons were told that the
persecution of Christians is increasing, that one Christian
is killed around every 11 minutes around the world, and that
Christianity is the ``most persecuted religion globally.''
A long list of countries in which life as a Christian is
most difficult was discussed, including Syria, North Korea,
Eritrea, Nigeria, Iraq, and Egypt.
M.P. Jim Shannon said the persecution of Christians is,
``the biggest story in the world that has never been told.''
He said that although the right to freedom of thought,
conscience, and religion is enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, there are many countries in
which these rights are not given.
Shannon alleged that 200 million Christians will be
persecuted for their faith this year, while he said that 500
million live in ``dangerous neighborhoods.''
He added that in Syria Christians are ``caught between
opposing sides in the conflict,'' and mentioned the
``specific targeting'' of Christian-dominated locations, such
as Sadad and Maaloula.
M.P. Sammy Wilson said that in Syria, ``50,000 Christians
have been cleared from the city of Homs,'' while in Sudan, 2
million Christians were killed by the regime over a 30-year
period.
{time} 1430
He added:
Within the last month, hundreds of people, from Nigeria to
Eritrea to Kazakhstan to China, have been arrested and put in
prison simply because of their faith, and when they go into
prison, they are denied due process. They are denied access
to lawyers. They are sometimes even denied knowledge of the
charges facing them. They can languish in prison for a long
time and in horrible conditions.
This is not only happening in Muslim countries. From
Morocco to Pakistan, Christians in Muslim countries are under
threat, but it happens elsewhere, too.
There is an article from Religious Freedom Coalition from October 18
of this year. It says:
On Wednesday evening, Senator John McCain was on NBC
Nightly News and was asked what he thought about Congressman
Louie Gohmert suggesting that he was supporting al Qaeda-
linked groups in Syria.
To this, McCain responded that he considered Representative
Gohmert to be a ``person of no intelligence''--clearly
suggesting that Gohmert was dimwitted and not worthy of
dealing with.
In responding to McCain's attack on his intelligence,
Gohmert issued the following statement to the media.
``Obviously, Senator McCain would be better off with `no
intelligence' since he doesn't know the Syrian opposition he
met with is infested with al Qaeda and terrorist kidnappers.
His `intelligence' even caused him to support the Muslim
Brotherhood in Egypt that burned churches and killed
Christians, as the Senator stood against the will of the
massive majority of Egyptians, including moderate Muslims,
Christians, and secularists who demanded the Muslim
Brotherhood extremist persecutions must end.''
I want to add here that this administration has supported the Muslim
Brotherhood leadership of President Morsi in Egypt while Christians
were being persecuted and as the largest
[[Page H7564]]
arising, gathering of people in protest of the history of the world
rose up in Egypt and demanded an end to the radical Islamic rule of
President Morsi after he had vastly exceeded, repeatedly, the
constitutional powers.
And as they told me in my last trip to Egypt, unfortunately, the
constitution that we should have helped them do a better job with did
not include any provision for impeachment. I can't understand why the
Obama administration would not have encouraged a country developing a
new constitution to put in a provision for impeachment. I don't know
why this administration would not have encouraged that, but it wasn't
there.
So when President Morsi vastly exceeded the authority of the
constitution and began moving toward being a monarch, millions of
people--reportedly 20, 30, 33 million Egyptians rose up--90 million
people in the whole country--they rose up and demanded that the
President be removed.
The Christian Pope in Egypt told me personally that this was the will
of the people. Please tell the administration and people in America
this was not a coup. This was the people of Egypt rising up, as he
talked about arm-in-arm the moderate Muslims, secularists, Christians
joined hands, joined arms, and protested and demanded that the military
remove President Morsi. And they did.
As these articles have talked about, the violence in August, the
violence in the summer against Christian churches--73 or so burned
down, Christians killed and tortured--that was by the Muslim
Brotherhood. And because the people of Egypt and the military could see
the persecution of Christians, and they wanted to stop it, they
basically disbanded the Muslim Brotherhood as a party, as an
organization in Egypt; and the burning of churches stopped and the
persecution of Christians stopped.
And to such a great and noble thing that the Egyptians have done in
bringing an end to this radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood control of
Egypt, bringing an end to the burning of churches, bringing an end to
the killing and torturing of Christians in Egypt, how has this
administration reacted to reward Egypt for doing such a noble thing?
The aid that this administration was providing to Egypt when it was
controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood has now been cut off because the
Egyptian people had the temerity to demand an end to radical Islamic
reign and the killing and persecution of Christians.
It is unbelievable that I live in a country that rewards groups that
persecute Christians and withdraws assistance to those who stop the
persecution of Christians.
This article says:
Of course, McCain is doing exactly what someone who has
been busted usually does: he smears his accuser. Why else
would McCain defend the likes of Reid, Schumer, and Durbin
while accusing Gohmert of having ``no intelligence''? The
answer is that Gohmert is doing what no one at his level or
higher is doing; he's calling McCain out for siding with
America's enemies.
Those were comments of former PLO terrorist Walid Shoebat.
He has seen the light, ended his time as a terrorist, and is
trying to educate people on the dangers of radical Islam.
The article points out that our friend, Senator McCain, had hired a
Syrian Islamist propagandist, Elizabeth O'Bagy, to become one of his
legislative assistants after she was exposed for lying about her Ph.D.
and being paid shill for Islamists seeking to overthrow President Assad
of Syria.
As former terrorist, Walid Shoebat explains:
Congressman Louie Gohmert should be getting reinforcements
from the more conservative elements in the Republican Party.
But will he? Frankly, we doubt it.
Congressman Gohmert deserves our praise, our vocal support,
and our prayers for having the courage to hold another
Republican responsible for promoting national security
policies that endanger the lives and freedoms of millions of
Syrians and Egyptians who do not wish to live under an
Islamic dictator.
I appreciate their commendation. I know that there is not a Senator
in the U.S. Senate that wants to do harm to this country or to
Christians around the world. But that is why it is so important to take
a look at what this country's, this administration's policies are doing
to the cause of persecution of Christians around the world.
An article from Christian Today, dated Wednesday, December 4:
Seventy Christians killed at the hands of Boko Haram in
Nigeria.
Further attacks against Christians in Nigeria have been
reported, bringing the total number killed in the past year
to an estimated 900. According to Release International, 34
Christians were murdered in Borno State in the northeast last
month, and raiders killed an additional 37 in the central
Plateau State on 26 November.
Church leaders believe the attacks in the north were
carried out directly by Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram,
while those in central Nigeria were carried out under their
direction.
What is going on around the world right now with the persecution of
Christianity is tragic. Or as the UK Parliament was told, Christians
are the most persecuted people in the whole world. In fact, even in the
United States right now, Christians are about the only group in America
against whom it is okay to discriminate. It is okay to hate them and
ascribe hatred to the believers and the man of love and peace, Jesus
Christ. It is rather tragic.
And as the world sees, this administration continues. As leaders in
the Middle East told a handful of us back in September, What do you not
understand? It was the Muslim Brotherhood behind the attack on 9/11 of
2001. It was the Taliban, but basically the Muslim Brotherhood in
Afghanistan you went to war against. It was the Muslim Brotherhood that
was killing Christians in Egypt. It was the Muslim Brotherhood--al
Qaeda--that attacked you in Libya, that helped in Libya, and now you
are helping them in Syria.
We don't understand what you don't understand. The people you
declared war on that hate you and want to destroy you, you are
supporting in Syria and you supported in Egypt. We don't understand.
And for moderate Muslims around the world, our friends in
Afghanistan, our friends in the Middle East, they don't understand how
we keep rewarding those who hate Christians and hate the United States,
and we persecute leadership like in Egypt right now that stopped the
persecution of Christians. We ought to be sending people rushing over
to Egypt saying thank you for stopping persecution of especially
Christians, but also moderate Muslims and secularists in Egypt. You
have done a good thing. We ought to be helping them set up their next
elections, which they want to do.
As I am sure people are aware, CNN has got a story here about,
``China claim of air rights over disputed islands creates risk of
incident.''
China has wanted to claim this part of the ocean for decades, but
they were always afraid of making a move to physically exert claim over
this area of the blue water. And yet they have obviously come to
believe that the United States is so weakly led right now that they
could make claim to this part of the sea that they were scared to claim
in the past and overtly take control over it. It hurts our friend
Japan; it hurts other allies for us not to take a stand.
And yet we get reports that this administration was telling our
allies, Well, just do what China requests for now. Just do what they
request--instead of showing strong leadership to stand up against a
move of aggression.
We see Russia moving more radically than we have seen in decades.
People just thought Russia had gone away. The Soviet Union did go away,
but Russia now has perceived a vacuum in world leadership since the
United States seems to be taking a leave of absence; and now we have
Putin being considered more powerful than our U.S. President.
Well, I can see how some would see the aggressive leadership he has
taken and believe that he is more powerful. It is not right. Our
President has all the power he needs if he would use it.
But it is time to take a stand, even for those who like to belittle
Christianity, even those who have far different beliefs. This Nation
has had an invisible protective hand that has guided it, led us away
from slavery, led us to proper civil rights.
{time} 1445
Then it seemed we were at about the peak of enforcing our
Constitution so that it didn't discriminate, so that the words of the
Declaration of Independence were fully embraced:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are
[[Page H7565]]
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.
Yet, as churches have been behind the movement to establish the
Constitution, the movement to eliminate slavery, the movement to
recognize civil rights so people are not judged by the color of their
skin but by the content of their character--as was the dream of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Junior, an ordained Christian minister--now we have
turned full circle, and now we are starting to persecute and reward
those who abroad persecute the very churches that made America the
freest country--the only country from which people have fought and died
for the liberty of others--the most generous and giving Nation in the
history of the world, where more freedoms, liberties, and assets have
been attained by individuals than in any country in the history of the
world.
It is exceptional, but we are losing our exceptionalism because we
are refusing to stand up for the beliefs of Christians here and around
the world.
If we want to extend this little experiment in democracy, as one of
the Founders said--if we want to acknowledge Ben Franklin's comment
``it is a Republic if you can keep it,'' and we want to keep it--it is
time to rise up, not through violence. Just stop rewarding those who
persecute Christianity. Those who burn churches, those who kill
Christians, quit rewarding them--quit providing them arms--because, if
we don't, we will slip down the slide of history into the dustbin of
history, and people will only be able to look back and say, ``What an
amazing country that once was.''
I am here in Congress because I believe we have the chance to salvage
this great country and get back our international leadership we once
had and stand for freedom of religion in the world and in America, but
God help us if we don't.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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