[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 407]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  TERRORISTS ATTEMPTING TO COMMIT GENOCIDE AGAINST CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, the most ancient Christian communities of all 
are in the Middle East where faith has been handed down in unbroken 
succession since the Apostles. It is there that terrorists are 
attempting to commit genocide against Christian believers.
  To an alarming extent, they are succeeding. For the first time in 16 
centuries, there is no Catholic Mass offered in Mosul. Christians were 
once 15 percent of the population in Syria. Now, they are less than 5 
percent. The percent in Egypt has been cut in half. ISIS has over 100 
Christians captive, even as we speak.
  Christian refugees are often afraid to stay at United Nations camps 
due to the threats of violence even there. As a result, there are 
disproportionately few Christians among those granted refugee status by 
the United States. Only about 3 percent of Syrian refugees admitted 
into the United States are Christians.
  While Christians are perhaps the most threatened group of all in 
Syria, the United States must not allow another genocide to happen on 
our watch, and we must ensure that we are helping those who are most 
vulnerable.

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