[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12284-12288]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous materials on the topic of my Special 
Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Georgia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by looking 
at headlines. All you have got to do is just read the headlines that 
are blaring at us, coming at us in print, over our Internet, and 
others. They say things like: ``Five children among 94 crucified, 
flogged, and caged by ISIS for eating during Ramadan''; ``Hundreds 
Killed in Nigeria Anti-Christian Violence''; ``ISIS Plants Land Mines 
in Christian Civilian Homes, Ancient Ruins Across Iraq, Syria.''
  If we have the stomach for it that particular day, we may read the 
article that follows. We might say a prayer or silently wonder at the 
brazen face of evil. But ultimately, we go on with our lives. We do not 
fear for our personal safety or that of our families because of 
systemic religious violence.
  Yet millions of our brothers and sisters around the world do not have 
the luxury of walking away from real religious persecution. They don't 
read the news stories; they live them day in and day out. They have 
watched family members die. They have had friends simply vanish into 
thin air, never to be heard from again. Their homes and businesses are 
seized by the government. Even as they place their hope in eternity, 
they fear for their future here on Earth.
  Today, my colleagues and I come to the House floor to tell our 
stories. We come because this body and this administration have a 
responsibility to use our position to promote religious liberty around 
the world. Millions of lives are literally depending on America's 
willingness to export our most precious commodity, religious freedom, 
and it is time to step up our efforts.
  As a pastor and currently a chaplain in the United States Air Force 
Reserve, defending religious liberty at home and abroad is near and 
dear to my heart. I have had the honor of serving folks of many faiths, 
as well as those with no faith, and I am convinced that the 
foundational importance of religious liberty is not just in America, 
but in every country.
  No nation is truly free unless its citizens can practice their 
religious beliefs without fear of losing their life or livelihood 
because of state-sponsored opposition or unchecked persecution by their 
neighbors. Yet even in democratized societies, we are witnessing a 
sharp increase in violent religious persecution worldwide.
  If America is to be a shining city upon a hill in the 21st century, 
we must

[[Page 12285]]

redouble our commitment to fighting for those around the world who do 
not enjoy the basic right to worship as they choose.
  I am grateful that my colleagues who share my passion for religious 
liberties have joined me for this Special Order, and I am especially 
grateful to my friend from California, Representative Vargas. We have 
gotten to know each other and travel, but on this issue, party lines 
are diminished, party lines are laid aside. When we think about our own 
freedoms and religious liberty, he is a champion for that.
  I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Vargas) as we continue 
to discuss this issue.
  Mr. VARGAS. I thank the gentleman from Georgia, Representative Doug 
Collins, for his opening remarks and especially for his courage to 
speak out for religious freedom around the world and also for his 
courage serving our Nation in uniform.
  At this moment, religious freedom around the world is in a state of 
emergency. The recently released International Religious Freedom annual 
report describes ``humanitarian crisis fueled by waves of terror, 
intimidation, violence,'' and ``the horrific loss of human life, 
freedom, and dignity that has accompanied the chaos.''
  From the brutality of ISIL in Iraq and Syria to Boko Haram's mass 
murders at mosques and churches and the displacement of over 140,000 
Rohingya Muslims and 100,000 Kachin Christians in Burma, the past year 
has seen unspeakable violations of the basic right to practice one's 
religion. Additionally, blasphemy laws, the vast displacement of 
religious minorities, and the persistent attacks on religious 
communities and places of worship should all be a cause for concern.
  Today, I would like to highlight the plight of religious minorities 
in ISIL-held territories a year after the fall of Mosul.
  The Nineveh plains have been inhabited by Christians for the past 
2,000 years and was first settled in 6000 BCE. In the Bible, the 
Prophet Jonah was ordered by God to ``Arise, go unto Nineveh, that 
great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.''
  Based in modern-day Mosul, with the Tigris River to the east, the 
Nineveh plains is rich in cultural history and religious diversity. 
Before the fall of Saddam Hussein, the number of Christians in Iraq had 
been estimated to be between 800,000 and 1.4 million. This included 
Armenian Catholics, Chaldean Christians, Assyrian Church of the East 
members, and Protestants. In 2013, the Christian population was 
estimated at 500,000 and shrinking significantly.
  Last year, the world watched in horror as a transnational Sunni 
insurgency initiated a political and religious insurrection in the name 
of establishing a caliphate across Iraq and Syria.
  After ISIL established its control over northwestern Iraq, these 
Islamist insurgents warned religious minorities living under its 
jurisdiction to either convert to Islam, pay a cumbersome religious 
tax, or be executed. These religious minorities included Christians, 
Yazidis, Turkmen, and Shabak, all of which have a long and rich history 
in the region and have historically coexisted peacefully with Muslims.
  Since ISIL's declaration, thousands of families have packed their 
belongings and fled to neighboring communities in Kurdistan, Syria, 
Lebanon, and Jordan. Many thousands have been murdered or abducted, and 
an unknown number of women and girls have been sexually assaulted and 
forced into marriage.
  We all witnessed in August 2014 thousands of Yazidis fleeing to Mount 
Sinjar to escape the brutality and persecution as ISIL advanced in the 
surrounding areas. I would like to read the testimony of a Yazidi 
recounting that horrible time:

       Hours later, ISIS forces attacked the Yazidis in Sinjar. 
     The Yazidis in towns and villages of the south side of Mount 
     Sinjar had some light weapons, such as AK-47 rifles, with a 
     small amount of ammunition. They fought against ISIS forces 
     for 4 or 5 hours. While this minimal defense was proceeding, 
     many Yazidis fled to Mount Sinjar.
       Finally, the defenders ran out of bullets and our positions 
     were overrun. The lucky few Yazidis who made it to Mount 
     Sinjar stayed for several days without any food or water. 
     Hundreds then died from starvation and dehydration, 
     especially infants, young children, sick people, and elders.
       On August 6, while ISIS forces flushed other Yazidi and 
     Chaldo-Assyrians from their Nineveh plain homes, ISIS also 
     advanced toward Mount Sinjar. Then the Yazidis had no choice 
     but to flee by foot, a journey that took days.
       On Friday, August 15, more than 210 Yazidi families in 
     Kocho village, which is just south of Sinjar City, received 
     an ISIS order to convert to Islam or be killed. In that 
     village, the ISIS militia beheaded more than 70 young men, 
     killed hundreds, and took all women, girls, and children to 
     Badush Prison near Mosul. The women and children were sold as 
     sex slaves by ISIS commanders.

  While American leadership assisted in providing humanitarian relief 
as events unraveled, little was done to alleviate ISIL's reign of 
terror. Since then, over 2 million people have been displaced, and 
thousands continue to face crimes against humanity. These include 
torture, enslavement, rape, forced prostitution, imprisonment, and 
extermination.
  Additionally, as a means to eradicate the history and heritage of 
these different groups, ISIS has led a campaign to destroy cultural and 
religious properties. Assyrians and other Christians have seen the 
destruction of the statue of the Virgin Mary at the Immaculate Church 
and the tomb of the Prophet Jonah, and numerous churches have been 
destroyed, looted, and burned down.
  In closing, I would like to echo the words of Pope Francis, who 
eloquently stated: ``Our brothers are being persecuted, chased away, 
they are forced to leave their homes without being able to take 
anything with them. I assure these families that I am close to them and 
in constant prayer. . . I know how much you are suffering. I know you 
are being stripped of everything.''
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I think what you have stated shows what we 
are dealing with here. What we are finding is the intolerance, 
something that is just so atypical of what we find here in America.
  I think the reason we are here today and actually talking about this 
is to again raise that level and to understand that this is not 
something in the past, not something beyond. It is something that is 
going on right now.
  It is not easy to hear about, but you had spoken of it as well, the 
ISIL victims who reject forced conversion. As we think about that in 
our religious freedom context, just because they say, ``I am not going 
to convert to your faith,'' Mr. Speaker, is what they are saying, they 
are crucified, beheaded, tortured, raped, and countless other 
atrocities, sold into slavery, simply because they stand on their own 
faith and won't be forced into the faith of another.
  ISIL, frankly, is just evil. They hide behind the cloak of 
religiousness. The problem is evil is just evil. You call evil what it 
is. Religious freedom has to be protected, and we have to be purveyors 
of that.
  When we look around, just in the Iraq community alone, just a few 
years ago, there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. Now, the best 
estimates are 200,000, at best estimate. And it just continues to 
drive. This is something that we are going to have to continue, I 
believe, to watch.
  There is a dear friend of mine here tonight who is a fighter for not 
only religious liberties, but I have fought with him for the lives and 
the birthdays of newborns everywhere. He is a fighter for religious 
liberties. The gentleman from Arizona speaks with authority on these 
issues because he has been there and he has been fighting on the front 
lines for a while.
  It is my privilege to yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Franks) to continue this discussion on the need for religious 
liberties.

                              {time}  1700

  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. It is a 
privilege for me to be here on the floor of the House of 
Representatives tonight with Congressman Collins and Congressman 
Vargas.
  I consider them both precious friends and colaborers in this vital 
struggle for

[[Page 12286]]

religious freedom, which is the cornerstone of all other freedoms; and 
without which, there can be really no other kind of freedom to exist 
for any length of time.
  Mr. Speaker, there is nothing that I fear more for my colleagues and 
my fellow Americans than the danger of growing numb to the evil that 
incites these horrific atrocities being committed against people around 
the world today based on their faith.
  I submit that we are, in these days, witnesses to some of the most 
glaring and brutal attacks on this universal right of religious freedom 
in all of our history.
  The Islamic State, that metastasizing cancer spreading throughout the 
Middle East and north Africa, is especially targeting Christians, 
Yazidis, and other ancient religious minorities and communities for 
extinction.
  The world has watched this insidious campaign of terror unfold day by 
day for over a year. More than 407 days now have passed since the 
ancient city of Mosul fell into the hands of the Islamic State.
  Their campaign of terror drove hundreds of thousands of Christian 
men, women, and children out of the land of their spiritual heritage, 
which dates back for nearly 2,000 years.
  Nearly 1 year has passed since the Islamic State's attack on the 
Yazidi community. Thousands were slaughtered, Mr. Speaker. At least 
5,000 women and young girls were taken captive as sex slaves. Nearly 
1,000 boys between the ages of 4 and 10 were captured and forced into 
ISIS training camps.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no room for Christians, Yazidis, or other 
dissidents in the Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate. Innocent 
men, women, and children are forced to choose between their deeply held 
religious beliefs and their lives.
  They are subject to torture, mass executions, beheadings, and 
crucifixions. They are drowned and burned alive in cages. They are 
raped, abused, and sold as commodities in a modern day slave market.
  They are tied to chairs and thrown off high-rise buildings. They are 
desecrated, violated, humiliated, and stripped of their dignity. Their 
ancient places of worship and sacred sites are destroyed.
  Mr. Speaker, how many more unimaginable atrocities must occur before 
this administration takes off its heartless blinders and finds the 
courage and determination to decisively address this evil slaughter of 
innocents based on their religious beliefs?
  German Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer 
said: ``Silence in the face of evil is evil itself. God will not hold 
us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak, and not to act is to act.''
  Mr. Speaker, the Obama administration can no longer remain 
conspicuously silent on the plight of religious minorities caught in 
the wake of the Islamic State. It is vital that America and the world 
make the necessary responses to stop this campaign of terror and 
preserve these ancient religious communities from extinction.
  In the middle of this scourge, the administration has allowed the 
Special Envoy to promote religious freedom of religious minorities in 
the Near East and South Central Asia position to remain vacant now for 
nearly a year. Very little effort has been made to equip regional 
security forces to protect these communities from ISIS' advance.
  This administration's response is shameful and an astonishing 
failure, and it only affirms the Islamic State's barbaric strategy and 
encourages what they proudly boast to be a ``battle between faith and 
blasphemy, truth, and falsehood.''
  Mr. Speaker, I would just adjure the President of the United States 
not to continue to stand by and let this evil relentlessly proceed.
  The assault on religious freedom we are witness to in the Middle East 
is just one of the many attacks against this most sacred and basic 
right of religious freedom. There are thousands of innocent people 
around the world who are antagonized, oppressed, tortured, and killed 
because of their belief or disbelief in a particular religion or 
ideology.
  I know these are challenging subjects, Mr. Speaker, but God help us 
to remain committed to echoing the voices of these innocents in the 
halls of Congress.
  May we all be relentlessly committed to pursue that day when the 
light of hope will fall across all of the lonely faces of God's 
children all over this world and that this ``most inalienable and 
sacred right of true religious freedom will be the possession of every 
last human being, and the destiny of future generations will be to walk 
in the sunlight of liberty for as long as mankind inhibits the Earth.''
  May it be so.
  I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I thank you again, Congressman Franks, for 
your friendship. Thank you for your outspokenness on this issue for 
many years, and I think we continue to bring this forward as we go 
forward.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the things I want to overlook before I turn it 
over to another colleague is the area of Pakistan--and this is 
something that is many times overlooked when we start, but in Pakistan, 
blasphemy laws carry a potential death sentence.
  Now, think about this for just a second--and, again, in our area, we 
get numb to the fact because of what we have--but blasphemy laws there 
carry a potential death sentence for anyone who insults Islam or 
professes another faith.
  In November 2014, two Pakistani parents were burned alive because of 
their Christian faith. These individuals were accused of burning a 
Koran and subsequently killed by a mob of their countrymen.
  A Pakistani court also convicted a Christian woman, mother of five, 
Asia Bibi, of blasphemy and sentenced her to death. Yesterday, after 
much prayer and concern from the Christian community, Reuters News 
reported that the Pakistani Supreme Court temporarily suspended her 
death sentence.
  While the suspension is welcome news, the international community 
desires that Ms. Bibi is released from prison because of the trumped-up 
charges.
  These are just two examples of persecution in a nation in which all 
minorities must grapple with the devastating impact of the notorious 
blasphemy law, as well as the danger posed by Islamic militant 
organizations that enjoy a strong foothold in the region.
  We must, as Congress and the administration, implore, put pressure--
whatever we need to do--to say to Pakistan: This is something that has 
got to be removed. This is something that needs to be done away with. 
These blasphemy laws must be put away, to be a part of a free and 
orderly society that actually recognizes the beliefs and religious 
liberties.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
Walker), my friend and fellow pastor to speak on this issue and bring 
his perspective on what he has seen across the world, but also in his 
time in Congress.
  Mr. WALKER. Thank you, Congressman Collins. I appreciate you raising 
this issue and bringing it to the House floor. It is one of a growing 
concern internationally, that we have seen organizations like Boko 
Haram and others who have done great damage to those, really, to the 
least of these.
  Mr. Speaker, our Nation was founded on the right to believe and to 
live according to one's beliefs, and our commitment to allow people to 
live out their religious values without fear of discrimination is 
really the cornerstone that developed our country into a force for 
freedom; but this liberty isn't just an American right. It should be a 
foundational element for all people groups.
  Who would have ever thought that we would be in a position to 
reference the United Nations? This right is so universal that it was 
included as article 18 of the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights.
  Article 18 recognizes that the right of all people to freedom of 
thought, conscience, and religion--this right includes freedom to 
change his religion or belief, freedom to manifest his belief

[[Page 12287]]

in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.
  However, members of the very institution that is supposed to 
subscribe to this declaration proactively seek out and punish 
individuals in groups for their very own religious beliefs.
  In violation of international law--and his inherent human rights--
Iran is currently imprisoning a gentleman by the name of Saeed Abedini 
for the mere fact of being a Christian, a man who was working with 
children who had little hope, if any.
  I have communicated on multiple occasions with his wife, Naghmeh, 
whose children have pleaded and begged this administration and Iran to 
be able to release.
  In fact, in 2012, the history, during a visit to Tehran to meet with 
his family to talk about helping out with orphanages and building board 
members, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard arrested Saeed for his 
Christian faith.
  Without any due process, Saeed was summarily given a sentence of 8 
years. Throughout Saeed's imprisonment, he has spent weeks in solitary 
confinement. The prison guards have allowed other prisoners to come and 
beat him. He is denied medical treatment for infections that resulted 
from beatings because he is labeled an infidel.
  I am more than proud that this House unanimously passed H. Res. 233, 
that demands the immediate release of Pastor Saeed, along with former 
U.S. marine, Amir Hekmati, and Washington Post journalist, Jason 
Rezaian; but we need to do more. We need to return Pastor Saeed to his 
home family now.
  As I was thinking about this whole process and speaking about it, I 
actually thought back to the original Mayflower Compact, so I looked it 
up. The words--it is amazing--still ring true, Mr. Speaker.
  Allow me remind us just for a moment of those words. It reads:

       IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, 
     the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by 
     the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, 
     King, Defender of the Faith, etc., Having undertaken for the 
     Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the 
     Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first 
     Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these 
     Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and 
     one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a 
     civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and 
     Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by 
     Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and 
     equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, 
     from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and 
     convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we 
     promise all due Submission and Obedience.
       IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at 
     Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our 
     Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, 
     the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.

  Ronald Reagan--in closing--said it best. He said:

       The most essential element of our defense of freedom is our 
     insistence on speaking out for the cause of religious 
     liberty.

  That is why we are here today, and I hope and am proud to stand with 
Representative Collins in continuing to stand for those who cannot 
stand for themselves.
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate those words, and 
I think it is not just in faraway places. We are also dealing with this 
kind of issue in this hemisphere as well.
  Just a little closer to home, southern Mexico even has experienced 
growing religious tensions over the past year. In a country in which 90 
percent of Mexico's population identifies as Catholic, the Mexican 
Constitution even has long protected freedom of worship.
  There is growing hostilities against Protestantism. In fact, the 
highlands of southern Mexico have a history of sectarian violence. Just 
a few decades ago, conflict led to hundreds of deaths and the 
displacement of 30,000 Protestants.
  Right now, the conflict has arisen once again. Protestants have had 
their lands seized, utilities cuts, and appeals for government 
assistance has fallen on deaf ears. There are also reports of violence, 
death threats, and forcible expulsions of hundreds of victims from 
communities in recent years.
  You don't have to go all over the world to see that we have this rise 
of religious intolerance around. That is a basic right, as Congressman 
Walker stated. Even in the U.N., it is one of those rights that is laid 
out in article 18, that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, 
conscience, and religion.
  A right includes freedom to change his religion or belief in freedom, 
either alone or in a community with others or in public or private, to 
manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and 
observation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my dear friend from California, 
Representative Vargas, for more, as we have been hearing from our 
friends.
  It is all over, and we need to continue to shine this light.
  Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, again, I would like to thank Mr. Franks from 
Arizona and Mr. Walker from North Carolina and especially you, 
Representative Collins, for your remarks and your leadership on this 
issue. Thank you.
  I would also like to conclude my remarks today by highlighting a few 
other key issues. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, 
there are more than 50 million refugees around the world, half of which 
are women and children.
  Religion is a key factor in humanitarian crises worldwide, as we saw 
earlier this year, with a record number of refugees attempting to cross 
the Mediterranean to seek asylum.

                              {time}  1715

  In this Congress, I have also introduced legislation--the Protecting 
Religious Minorities Persecution by ISIS Act of 2015--to address the 
plight of religious minorities in ISIS-held territories.
  Additionally, there are far too many people imprisoned for religious 
belief and religious freedom advocacy. We heard already about Mr. Saeed 
Abedini.
  I would also like to take a moment to focus on the issue of prisoners 
of conscience around the world by highlighting the plight of Behnam 
Irani of Iran, as detailed in the U.S. Commission on International 
Religious Freedom's Defending Freedom Project Prisoner's List: Behnam 
Irani is an evangelical Christian leader from Iran who led a 300-member 
church of Iran in Karaj, a city less than 15 minutes outside the 
capital of Tehran. In 2011, Irani was sentenced to 6 years' 
imprisonment for his Christian activities after a raid on a house 
church in Karaj. In September 2014, Mr. Irani was hit with 18 
additional charges, including Mofsed-e-filarz, which means ``spreading 
corruption on Earth,'' a crime punishable by death. However, in October 
2014, this charge was dropped and Irani was sentenced instead to 6 
years' imprisonment due to his alleged acting against national security 
and forming a group to overthrow the government. In total, Pastor Irani 
is expected to serve a total of 12 years in prison and is, therefore, 
due for release in 2023. Mr. Irani has faced numerous health problems 
while in prison, including severe bleeding due to stomach ulcers and 
colon complications. Mr. Irani is married and has a daughter and a son.
  Lastly, I would like to bring a spotlight to the increase in anti-
Semitism in Europe. According to numerous reports, there has been an 
increase of anti-Semitic acts in France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, 
Austria, Italy, and Germany between 2013 and 2014.
  These include violent acts and attacks with an anti-Jewish 
motivation. Earlier this year, the world saw four Jewish patrons being 
murdered during an attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris, France.
  We must continue to partner with and support Jewish communities 
around the world to mitigate these anti-Semitic attacks.
  With that, I again would like to thank my Republican colleagues and 
all of my colleagues for their support on this issue. Again, I would 
like to thank, in particular, my colleague and friend from Georgia (Mr. 
Collins).
  Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Thank you for being here, Congressman Vargas.
  I think there are many things that we can stand for. Nothing, I 
think,

[[Page 12288]]

more basic to our liberties not only here in our country, but around 
the world, is just standing for, as Congressman Walker just said, those 
who can't stand for themselves, who are right now being persecuted 
simply for the act of a conscious belief, the act of having a faith 
that others disagree with.
  I think that is why we are here tonight, Mr. Speaker, to talk about 
this in terms of things that we can do and things that we can 
highlight.
  One of the issues that is concerning to me--and it is going to be 
debated in this Chamber later--is, when we are dealing with countries 
who have--and we have talked about this today with Iran--dealing with 
countries who encourage religious persecution. They have issues with 
this. And we yet enter into agreements without discussing those.
  My concern is, in matters of trade and business, all international 
leaders come to our President, our Ambassadors, our State Department, 
our government officials. Whenever they come and trade in business--and 
they want to do business because this is the market that everybody 
wants--then this is our time to bring this up.
  It is in those times that we bring up the persecution. It is in those 
times that we bring up the five that are held in Iran. It is in those 
times that we stand for them while they are shackled and cannot stand 
for themselves.
  We have to get over this ridiculous notion that we shouldn't bring up 
religious liberty in certain contexts because we don't want to offend 
anyone.
  We are worried about causing offense while men, women, girls, and 
boys are being raped, killed, crucified, and losing their lives. No 
American faces a barbaric State-sponsored death sentence simply because 
he or she believes a different religion than a neighbor.
  Mr. Speaker, this is part of the freedom that we have. It is a part 
of the freedom that has been given to us by those who have passed 
before us.
  I have always believed that we stand on the freedoms in this country 
today of the Constitution and the charters that have gone before us and 
not only what they did to sign their names to the Declaration of 
Independence, to sign their names to the Constitution, but to say that 
we will fight for those rights and those men and women who have died 
over the years, to say these are worth fighting for.
  There have even been issues in our own country of intolerance. And 
what we have to understand, from my perspective even as an Air Force 
chaplain, is there have been more discussions on what is right and how 
we are going to stand up for what we believe.
  As an Air Force chaplain, I am there not only from my faith 
background that I have, but for all, whether they have a hard-and-fast 
faith, a faith that is just being developed or they have no faith at 
all.
  That is what a chaplain is there for, is to present encouragement and 
to preserve the religious freedoms and protections that we have.
  If we back up on that, if we back up on the basic freedoms such as 
religious liberty, freedom of conscience, these things that we take for 
granted, this human rights issue in our country, then what else are we 
going to back up on? If we start messing with the fundamental pillars, 
where will it end?
  The light that shines brightest here is the one that shines brightest 
across the seas. We cannot let this issue continue to just become dull 
to us by simply reading headlines on a page, maybe saying a prayer for 
those in need, or believing that a book of martyrs is something that 
used to happen and not anymore.
  Today there are those around the world who are simply dying or being 
persecuted because of their own conscience, because of their belief 
that they hold. That is wrong.
  It is time for us to use all of our resources here in the freest 
country in the world, to say: We are not going to stand for it. We need 
to make this the light.
  I thank Congressman Vargas again and those who have come in to be a 
part of this, to make sure that this light is not dim. It is something 
that will continue to shine brightly.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to join my colleagues, 
Congressmen Vargas and Collins in this Special Order regarding 
international religious freedom.
  As the daughter of Assyrian and Armenian immigrants who fled the 
slaughter of Middle East Christians in the early 1900's, the importance 
of religious freedom is interwoven into the history of my family.
  I remember vividly the stories my parents, grandparents, aunts and 
uncles told me of what they faced; how they fled; about the family 
members murdered; of Churches being burned; and all because they were 
Christians. Tragically, we are witnessing history repeating itself 
today in the Middle East.
  Violence and instability has once again placed Christians and other 
religious minorities in the Middle East in exceptional peril, a 
population which has already dwindled considerably in Iraq and Syria.
  There is a systematic extermination of the world's oldest Christian 
communities taking place. First it was Al Qaeda when the U.S. invaded 
Iraq. Today it is the barbarians of ISIS who are responsible for 
horrific acts, including torture, murder and displacement of thousands, 
many with whom I share the same ethnic background.
  From the founding of our nation, religious freedom has been a pillar 
of our democracy and it remains a cornerstone of our democracy and a 
value we espouse to peoples around the world.
  The situation for religious minorities in the Middle East remains 
particularly desperate and many are losing hope. As a maelstrom of 
violence and religious persecution ravages this part of the world, we 
can and must lead.
  First, there is a desperate need for humanitarian aid for the 
displaced inside and outside established refugee camps.
  Second, the United States should provide adequate safety for the few 
remaining religious minority communities in Syria and Iraq.
  Third, we should ease the bureaucratic burdens which hold up 
immigration applications for religious minorities who wish to seek 
refuge in the United States. Today they are made to wait years due to 
our tedious refugee processing through the State Department and 
Department of Homeland Security.
  Religious leaders across ecumenical lines have come together and 
firmly stated their support for religious freedom. Pope Francis said in 
January, ``. . . Freedom of religion and freedom of expression are both 
fundamental human rights.''
  The United States must step up, lead by example, and make good on our 
belief that religious freedom is a precious one.

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