[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 75 (Monday, May 19, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E769-E771]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMENDING AMERICAN CHRISTIAN LEADERS FOR STANDING IN SOLIDARITY WITH 
  CHRISTIANS AND OTHER SMALL RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN EGYPT, IRAQ AND 
                                 SYRIA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 19, 2014

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize over 200 individuals 
who signed a Pledge of Solidarity and Call to Action on Behalf of 
Christians and Other Small Religious Communities in Egypt, Iraq and 
Syria. I was honored to co-host a press conference earlier this month 
with my colleague Representative Anna Eshoo. Together, we co-chair the 
Religious Minorities in the Middle East Caucus.
  The group of signatories to the Pledge represents the diversity of 
American Christianity, with individuals hailing not only from the 
Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox traditions but also a variety of 
sectors: thought leaders, clergy, parachurch heads and university and 
seminary presidents, among others. They have recognized that unless the 
American church begins to champion this cause, the foreign policy 
establishment will hardly lead the way.
  I regularly meet with beleaguered Christians from this part of the 
world. Their stories are eerily similar: believers kidnapped for 
ransom; churches--some full of worshippers--attacked; clergy targeted 
for killing. In the face of this violence, Christians are leaving this 
region in droves. The resounding theme that emerges is quite simply a 
plea for solidarity, and an appeal for help. Where is the West, they 
wonder? With the release of this Call to Action, I am heartened to say, 
that these cries have been heard.
  The following individuals spoke at the press conference:
  Leith Anderson, Chair, National Association of Evangelicals; His 
Eminence, Cardinal Donald Wuerl; Archbishop Oshagan Cholayan, Armenian 
Apostolic Church of America; Jim Liske, President and CEO, Prison 
Fellowship Ministries; Canon Andrew White, Chaplain of St George 
Anglican Church, Baghdad; His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios of 
Boston, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; Pastor Jerry Johnson, 
President and CEO, National Religious Broadcasters; Nina Shea, Director 
and Senior Scholar, Hudson Institute Center for Religious Freedom; 
George Marlin, Chair, Aid to the Church in Need-USA; Dr. Elizabeth 
Prodromou, Visiting Associate Prof. of Conflict Resolution, The 
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; Johnny Moore, 
Senior Vice President, Liberty University; Barrett Duke, Vice President 
for Public Policy and Research Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious 
Liberty Commission; and Joseph Kassab, Founder and President, Iraqi 
Christians Advocacy and Empowerment; Institute (reading a statement by 
Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako).
  The text of the Pledge of Solidarity follows:

                             [May 7, 2014]

Pledge of Solidarity & Call to Action on Behalf of Christians and Other 
          Small Religious Communities in Egypt, Iraq and Syria


                                 FACTS

       In today's Middle East, the majority of the Christian faith 
     communities, which include Orthodox, Catholics, and 
     Protestants, suffer violence, abuse and injustice from 
     extremist Islamic forces by virtue of being Christian. Now 
     facing an existential threat to their presence in the lands 
     where Christianity has its roots, the Churches in the Middle 
     East fear they have been largely ignored by their 
     coreligionists in the West.
       Christians collectively form the largest religious group in 
     the Middle East that is not Muslim, numbering up to 15 
     million people. In a siege that has accelerated over the past 
     decade, Egypt, Iraq and Syria--the three Middle Eastern 
     countries with the largest Christian communities remaining--
     have seen scores of churches deliberately destroyed, many 
     clergy and laypeople targeted for death, kidnapping, 
     intimidation and forcible conversion, and hundreds of 
     thousands of believers driven from their countries. The 
     Christian population in Lebanon, the only other indigenous 
     Church community in the region numbering over 1 million, 
     could be threatened by the instability across its country's 
     borders.
       No Christian tradition is spared in this current wave of 
     persecution. While addressing the theme of Christian unity, 
     Pope Francis has called this the ``ecumenism of blood,'' 
     meaning that the extremists do not discriminate among the 
     Christians they are attacking. Ecumenical Patriarch 
     Bartholomew has also spoken of the contemporary 
     ``crucifixion'' of Christians. In these same three countries, 
     other defenseless religious groups--Mandeans, Yizidis, 
     Baha'is, Ahmadis and others--suffer similarly.
       It has become abundantly clear that the brutal extremist 
     campaigns are resulting in the eradication of non-Muslim 
     religious communities or, for those who remain, denying them 
     from having any influence or even basic rights within their 
     society's political, social or cultural spheres. While there 
     is no apparent organization or coordination among the various 
     violent actors from nation to nation, their actions are 
     leading to one conclusion: the very real possibility that 
     Christianity may soon be exiled from the region of its 
     origin.
       These assaults continue despite rejection by the majority 
     of Muslims and condemnation by prominent Muslim voices, such 
     as Jordan's Prince Ghazi bin Mohammed and

[[Page E770]]

     Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Sistani. Many Muslims also face grave 
     threats from the extremist groups and forces that wreak 
     destruction in the name of a political interpretation of 
     Islam.
       The current trajectory, marked by political violence and, 
     in the cases of Iraq and Syria, full-blown war, risks a 
     Middle East largely emptied of the millennia-old presence of 
     Christians. Turkey offers an example of what the future may 
     hold for the region as a whole: the Christian population 
     constitutes a mere 0.15 percent of that country's 79 million 
     people, down from almost a quarter of the population a 
     century ago. Turkey's Christian community, once the heart of 
     Eastern Christendom, is nearly gone.
       Britain's Prince Charles has drawn attention to this 
     crisis. A life-long proponent of building bridges between the 
     Christian and Muslim faiths through dialogue, he warned last 
     year: ``We cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the 
     Middle East are, increasingly, being deliberately targeted by 
     fundamentalist Islamist militants. Christianity was, 
     literally, born in the Middle East and we must not forget our 
     Middle Eastern brothers and sisters in Christ.''
       Testifying about Egypt before the U.S. Congress in December 
     2013, Bishop Angaelos of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK 
     made similar observations. He stated that the attacks by 
     ``radical elements'' are not merely targeting individuals, 
     but ``the Christian and minority presence in its entirety.'' 
     Over three days in August 2013, Egypt's Coptic Christians 
     who, numbering about 8 million, comprise the region's largest 
     Christian community, experienced the worst single attack 
     against their churches in 700 years. Both before and after 
     that episode, the Copts have suffered other violence, 
     including a mob assault on the Cairo Cathedral of the Coptic 
     Pope during a funeral service and the bombing of the Church 
     of Two Saints that killed dozens of people. Tens of thousands 
     of Copts are estimated to have fled their homeland in recent 
     years.
       During more than a decade of political turmoil in Iraq, 
     Christians have been targeted and killed in their churches, 
     school buses, neighborhoods and shops. Canon Andrew White, 
     the leader of Iraq's only Anglican Church, asserted that 
     ``all the churches are targets.''
       In Syria, large segments of both the Christian and Muslim 
     populations have already been displaced and many, who suffer 
     daily assault, forced starvation and unspeakable hardships, 
     are leaving the country. The Christian community is caught in 
     the middle of a brutal war. But the Christians are also 
     victims of beheadings, summary executions, kidnappings, and 
     forcible conversions, in deliberate efforts to suppress or 
     eradicate their religious faith. Over 30 percent of Syria's 
     Christian churches are reported to have already been 
     destroyed. Recently, extremists have driven out virtually all 
     the population from the Christian towns of Maaloula and 
     Kessab. An entire convent of nuns was taken hostage and held 
     for ransom, along with many others. Priests who have worked 
     to improve interfaith relations and sought truces among the 
     warring Muslim factions have been assassinated. Two Orthodox 
     bishops, Metropolitans Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim and 
     Boulos Yazigi, have been held captive since April 22, 2013.
       Baghdad's Catholic Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako recounts: 
     ``For almost two millennia Christian communities have lived 
     in Iraq, Syria, Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East. . . . 
     Unfortunately, in the 21st century Middle Eastern Christians 
     are being severely persecuted. . . . In most of these 
     countries, Islamist extremists see Christians as an obstacle 
     to their plans.'' He states that ``it is sad to note that 
     most Western Christians have no real awareness of the painful 
     situation of Christians in the Middle East, even though they 
     could actually highlight their real condition and raise 
     awareness among politicians.''
       Along with other vulnerable religious groups, Egyptian, 
     Iraqi and Syrian Christians are now leaving their countries 
     in great numbers not simply to look for better economic 
     opportunities. They are fleeing conflict and violence and 
     targeted campaigns against them that have included the 
     following:
       Scores of churches--some while full of worshippers--
     monasteries, cemeteries, and Bible centers have been 
     deliberately demolished and crosses on others have been 
     removed.
       The building and repairing of churches has sometimes been 
     curbed and prohibited.
       Private Christian homes, businesses and lands have been 
     looted, confiscated or destroyed because some challenge 
     Christians' right to property, thus curtailing livelihoods.
       Christians, including some clergy, after being identified 
     as such by their names, identity cards, or some other means, 
     have been beheaded, shot execution-style or otherwise 
     brutally murdered. Clergy have also been killed for their 
     peace-making efforts or simply as personifications of the 
     Christian faith.
       Untold numbers of Christians, including bishops, priests, 
     pastors, and nuns, have been kidnapped and held for ransom.
       Young women have been abducted and forced to convert to 
     Islam and marry their captors.
       In some instances, Christians have been told to convert to 
     Islam or be killed; some have been forced to pay protection 
     money.
       In one Syrian town, Christians have been forced to submit 
     to dhimmi contracts (the terms for protecting Jews and 
     Christians in Muslim lands that are attributed to the Islamic 
     7th century Caliph Umar) under which their religious and 
     other rights are suppressed and they live as second class 
     citizens.
       Muslim apostasy and blasphemy codes and standards for 
     dress, occupation and social behavior are being enforced for 
     Christians, as well as for Muslims, in some communities.
       Given the above, Christians have been either intimidated or 
     barred from practicing their faith publicly.
       Such abuse and injustice are frequent and pervasive enough 
     to form observable patterns in these three countries. 
     Extremists and terrorist gangs are behind most of these 
     incidents; they have been carried out largely with impunity, 
     and sometimes with the acquiescence of state and local 
     authorities. It is their cumulative effect that has triggered 
     the current massive exodus of Christians.
       American religious leaders need to pray and speak with 
     greater urgency about this human rights crisis. The sense of 
     abandonment felt by the Middle Eastern Churches is reflected 
     in the searing words of Patriarch Sako, last December: ``We 
     feel forgotten and isolated. We sometimes wonder, if they 
     kill us all, what would be the reaction of Christians in the 
     West? Would they do something then?''


                          PLEDGE OF SOLIDARITY

       We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant leaders, have 
     come together in this joint pledge to speak up for our fellow 
     Christians and other threatened religious communities in the 
     Middle East. We invite other faith leaders and all men and 
     women of good will who are concerned with the dignity and 
     safety of all human beings to join us in this urgent task.
       We are compelled to take this action by the grave dangers 
     that confront the Churches of Egypt, Iraq and Syria, in 
     particular. While Christians have been leaving the Middle 
     East for many years, and, in these three countries, members 
     of all communities--including smaller religious communities 
     and Muslims--suffer from violence and political turmoil, the 
     Egyptian, Iraqi and Syrian Christian communities, under the 
     additional scourge of intensifying religious extremism, are 
     experiencing a sudden, massive exodus of their members from 
     the region. Since these communities account for most of the 
     indigenous Christians in today's Middle East, the continued 
     presence of Christians in the region where Christianity 
     originated 2,000 years ago is threatened.
       Recognizing the spiritual, humanitarian and geopolitical 
     implications of this historic flight, we have joined together 
     to affirm our moral obligation to speak and act in defense of 
     religious freedom for all human beings.
       As Americans, we believe that the ability to worship God, 
     or not, and to practice freely one's faith, is a basic, 
     inalienable human right, as recognized in our country's 
     founding documents, and that it has universal application. We 
     witness this right under assault today in Egypt, Iraq and 
     Syria.
       As Christians, we are called to take to heart Jesus' own 
     words in the Gospel of Luke that he was sent to, ``proclaim 
     freedom for the prisoners'' and to ``set the oppressed 
     free.'' We look, too, to what Paul told the Corinthians, 
     speaking of the Church as the Body of Christ, ``If one part 
     suffers, every part suffers with it.'' We are also enjoined 
     in the book of Hebrews to ``continue to remember those in 
     prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those 
     who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.'' We 
     are aggrieved by the suffering in the Middle East today of 
     our brothers and sisters in Christ.
       We pledge to call together our own congregations and 
     communities in sustained prayer, education and engagement in 
     US foreign policy on behalf of these Christians and other 
     threatened religious communities of Egypt, Iraq and Syria. 
     All too clearly, we see the ``tears of the oppressed'' and 
     cannot ignore them.


                             CALL TO ACTION

       While the fate of Christians in the Middle East is 
     unquestionably important to Christians, it should be 
     emphasized that the continued presence of Christians, along 
     with other religious communities, is in the national interest 
     of that region's countries and it is in America's own 
     national interest. We agree with President Obama's assertion 
     before this year's National Prayer Breakfast that the right 
     to religious freedom is an essential human right that 
     ``matters to our national security.''
       Religious diversity provides the important experience of 
     different faith communities living together. If the robust 
     communities of Egyptian, Iraqi and Syrian Christians and 
     other smaller religious communities continue to leave the 
     Middle East, pluralistic coexistence would tragically be 
     diminished region-wide. The Christians of Egypt, Iraq and 
     Syria have rejected violence as an acceptable response to 
     oppression and, instead, by both word and action, have 
     supported a message of peace and non-violence.
       Though Christians are a fraction of the overall populations 
     of these three countries, they have long been an integral 
     part of the social fabric, and have contributed, alongside 
     Muslims, to the construction of the Arab civilization. They 
     have had an especially formative role in promoting education, 
     literacy, learning and health care that benefits society as a 
     whole. They have participated in forming professional and 
     entrepreneurial groups important for a dynamic middle class, 
     as well as given rise to

[[Page E771]]

     active intellectuals long committed to international norms 
     and practices of human rights, the rule of law, and equal 
     rights of individual citizenship--all essential for democracy 
     and hence for making these countries partners in building 
     societies where all faiths can live and prosper.
       We are compelled to ask: Why are the Christians currently 
     being killed or driven out? These communities represent 
     openness to others and a desire for truth, even if 
     inconvenient. They love learning and seek an equal share in 
     building their respective nations. They do not believe in 
     retaliation and embrace forgiveness. They respect individual 
     life as an end in itself not as a means. These are attributes 
     many Muslims also share and ones that any country would 
     appreciate.
       Even as we pledge to do all within our power to alleviate 
     the suffering of Christians and other small religious 
     communities in the Middle East, we urgently appeal for action 
     from our government to recognize and act upon the unique 
     plight of these religious communities.
       It is our conviction that American foreign policy can be 
     more effectively used to advocate for policies that protect 
     international religious freedom for all. We welcomed 
     President Obama's public remarks regarding his March 27 
     meeting with Pope Francis, concerning his reaffirmation that 
     ``it is central to U.S. foreign policy that we protect the 
     interests of religious minorities around the world.'' As a 
     matter of conscience, we, therefore, respectfully call for 
     the following actions:
       I. Appointment of the Special Envoy on Middle East 
     Religious Minorities. A new special envoy post, filled by a 
     prominent and knowledgeable citizen is needed for deep 
     engagement in the issues and circumstances affecting 
     Christians and other small religious communities in the 
     region. Over 20 special envoy posts exist to protect a range 
     of other groups and interests but none is dedicated to the 
     plight of Middle Eastern religious minorities. American 
     policies continue to be formed without adequately taking into 
     account the impact they might have on these vulnerable 
     communities. A high caliber envoy of stature who has the ear 
     of the President could increase American engagement regarding 
     Middle Eastern religious minorities, so that:
       The views and interests, including physical safety and 
     equal rights as citizens, of the members of small, 
     defenseless groups are considered in any peace negotiations 
     concerning Syria.
       Every diplomatic effort is made to press other governments 
     in the region to stop facilitating, harboring, and assisting 
     any extremist groups and militias, and to foster respect for 
     the defenseless religious communities.
       Other policies to promote tolerance and respect for members 
     of vulnerable religious communities in the Middle East are 
     considered at the highest levels while there is still time to 
     act.
       It was just such a special envoy who helped draw attention 
     to genocidal levels of religious and ethnic persecution in 
     Sudan and usher in a comprehensive peace agreement to end the 
     north-south conflict there in 2005.
       II. Review of Foreign Aid. As he has done in the interest 
     of other stated administration priorities, President Obama 
     should initiate an internal review to ensure that American 
     assistance programs, especially those that support national 
     governments, uphold policies and principles that relate to 
     religious freedom and pluralism. The review should include 
     examining the region's national textbooks, local governmental 
     broadcasting, statements by public officials, and national 
     identity cards, where the inclusion of one's religious 
     identity is often used to deny rights. U.S. government-
     sponsored broadcasting, legal and constitutional assistance, 
     and educational efforts should promote religious tolerance 
     and protect religious freedom, including for small religious 
     groups.
       III. Refugee & Reconstruction Assistance. Our principal 
     purpose in speaking out is to help Christian communities and 
     other defenseless religious groups remain safely in the 
     region. To that end, the vulnerable religious minorities, 
     including those who are refugees in neighboring countries or 
     displaced within their home countries, must have equitable 
     access to American refugee, humanitarian, repatriation, and 
     reconstruction aid. Many will need assistance to be relocated 
     elsewhere in the region and American help could be decisive. 
     The U.S. government must ensure that religious minorities are 
     not discriminated against by local authorities in the 
     distribution of aid donated by the U.S. government, as was 
     reported to have occurred at certain junctures in Iraq, 
     contributing to the wholesale exodus of its Christians and 
     other small religious communities. It must also continue to 
     reach Christians and others who eschew UN refugee camps that 
     they perceive to be controlled by extremist groups. In some 
     particularly tragic instances, we recognize that individual 
     members of defenseless religious communities will never be 
     able to return to their homes, and urge that those 
     individuals be given fast track asylum in the United States 
     and elsewhere in the West.


                               CONCLUSION

       A generation ago, American religious leaders successfully 
     mobilized support for the International Religious Freedom Act 
     of 1998. That law created the U.S. Commission on 
     International Religious Freedom and institutionalized regular 
     State Department reporting on the status of religious liberty 
     around the world. That legislation should be credited with 
     helping to establish, as President Obama acknowledged at the 
     National Prayer Breakfast last February, that ``promoting 
     religious freedom is a key objective of U.S. foreign 
     policy.'' Now, new action is desperately needed by our 
     churches, our government and our civil society institutions 
     here in the United States, and by all people of good will to 
     make that objective a reality.
       (Signatories are signing in their individual capacities and 
     titles are included for identification purposes only.)

                          ____________________