[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 118 (Thursday, July 13, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3989-S3990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    INTERNATIONAL REGLIGIOUS FREEDOM

  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, today I wish to speak about the issue of 
international religious freedom.
  Sadly, in recent months, the nightly news has reported far too many 
stories of innocent people around the world who have been intentionally 
targeted in acts of horrible violence simply because of their desire to 
worship in a way their consciences dictate.
  Recently, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association held the first 
``World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians'' in Washington, 
where participants from 130 countries gathered together, many of whom 
have faced brutal persecution in their home country because of their 
faith.
  As I am sure my colleagues and most Americans know, Rev. Billy Graham 
has touched the lives of millions of people in the United States and 
around the world. He has counseled Presidents and Prime Ministers and 
has been called America's pastor. As a fellow North Carolinian, I am 
proud call both Billy Graham and his son Franklin my friends.
  As the son of a Presbyterian minister, these recent events reminded 
me of a letter written by my late father, David Burr, to my 
grandparents. On Thanksgiving Day 1964, writing from South Korea as a 
soldier in the Army, my dad wrote a letter about a special worship 
service held for troops in a tiny chapel on the side of a hill, just 
within sight of the 38th Parallel dividing North and South Korea. With 
rifles in tow, my father and his fellow soldiers made their way through 
the snow and into the chapel. To their surprise, the man standing up 
front to conduct the worship was not their usual Protestant or Catholic 
chaplain, but a young Jewish rabbi and a veteran of the previous war.
  In his letter, my father wrote about the beautiful lesson he had 
heard that day where the scripture reading was from Hosea chapter 6, 
which says, ``The voice of God cried unto His people, What shall I do 
with you? For your goodness is as the morning cloud, and as the dew 
that goes early away. For I desire goodness, not promises; I desire 
acknowledgement and not your bargains.'' My father, deeply moved by the 
message, then went on to write about the rabbi's powerful benediction 
prayer that closed the worship: ``He that enjoys anything without 
thanksgiving is as though he robbed God.''
  Every July Fourth, our country gives thanks for the freedoms we are 
privileged to have as Americans and celebrates the birth of our Nation. 
Indeed, the freedoms we enjoy are immortalized in our Declaration of 
Independence: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit 
of Happiness.''
  The Founding Fathers understood that these unalienable rights, 
including the freedom to worship, was a fundamental human right endowed 
by our Creator.
  As I read from my father's letter, I can see he realized this, too. 
``All the way back to the barracks,'' he wrote, ``I knew that I was one 
who was stealing from God, for every day I am enjoying the times that 
were so full and wonderful there at home. Every day, though we are cold 
and discouraged, my heart is warm with your prayers and thoughts of 
you, and I have not been thanking God. I have not been fair, for God 
has walked with me all these years and I have never thought to say 
thank you to Him.''
  I share this story today because I believe that, if we as Americans 
are thankful for these unalienable rights endowed by our Creator, we 
should also stand up for the millions across the world who are robbed 
of these same fundamental human rights--and sometimes lose their lives 
because of it. As Members of the U.S. Senate, we especially should not 
forget this.
  As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I think about North 
Korea, I think about Iran, and Ithink about all the different regions 
around the world where terrorist activity poses a real threat to our 
national security. Today I also think about

[[Page S3990]]

places like North Korea, Iran, and so many other countries not just in 
a national security capacity alone, but about the people who are 
suffering under political systems that deny their fundamental right to 
freely worship as they choose.
  The rabbi's lesson of Hosea chapter 6 that day was about a passage 
where strength, courage, and hope by the great Hand above were poured 
into those who were lonesome, afraid, and discouraged. At the end of my 
dad's letter, he asked my grandfather, ``Please, dad, put the 
benediction of the rabbi over your desk for that is the quickest way 
you can bring me home.'' If so, by keeping international religious 
freedom as a foreign policy priority, I believe that is the quickest 
way we can bring persecuted people hope.
  As my father did in his letter, I close by repeating the rabbi's 
benediction: ``He that enjoys anything without thanksgiving is as 
though he robbed God.'' I urge my colleagues: Let's remember to be 
thankful for the God-given freedoms we enjoy in the United States and 
to shine a light on the dark corners of the world. Let's not forget in 
this Congress how we can help the millions who are robbed of these 
fundamental rights.
  Thank you.

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