WASHINGTON — A U.S. congressman told attendees at a Washington
summit on Christian persecution that "more than ever before, vigorous U.S.
leadership and diplomacy are needed to address religious freedom violations
globally."
"Religious persecution is festering and exploding around the
world. What has been unconscionable for decades, centuries, has gotten
worse," Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, said May 12 in remarks at the
World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians.
The May 10-13 summit was convened by the Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association, and drew several hundred religious leaders and
victims of Christian persecution from around the world.
Smith noted that a Washington conference held a month before,
titled "Under Caesar's Sword," had "underscored the fact that
Christians are the most persecuted religious community globally." In
conjunction with that conference, a report was issued detailing the nature of
persecution against Christians in different nations across the globe.
"In many countries, Christians suffer genocide and face an
existential threat. For many believers, refusal to renounce Jesus Christ means
martyrdom, rape, torture and pain," Smith said.
He recalled that 37 years ago during his first term in Congress,
he was moved to tears by reading a book titled "Tortured for Christ"
by a Romanian Christian pastor, Richard Wurmbrand, who also was the founder of
the Voice of the Martyrs.
"As so many of you know, it is the true story of unspeakable
physical torture and psychological abuse of underground Christians under
Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and Pastor Wurmbrand's harrowing 14-year
incarceration," he said. "Sabina, his brave wife, also suffered
prison and forced labor for her faith."
"Like so many, I was inspired by Pastor Wurmbrand's
indomitable faith, breathtaking courage and hope and challenged by his
admonishment to believers to cease enabling evil by our naivete, coldhearted
indifference or cowardly complicity," Smith added.
In 1982, he made his first "religious freedom mission"
to Moscow and Leningrad on behalf of Soviet Jews, and his most recent such trip
was before last Christmas to visit some of the Christian survivors of Islamic
State genocide, and to press the U.S. and United Nations to help them. He and
his delegation traveled to Iraq at the invitation of Iraqi Archbishop Bashar
Warda of Irbil. They visited a camp with 6,000 refugees.
"We then sat with Christians and heard stories of ISIS
atrocities, the desecration of churches, the crucifixions of young men who
refused to join ISIS, and the sexual slavery forced on some young Christian
girls," Smith said. "We also heard stories of hope, faith and charity
— and joined in prayers for the persecuted and those who persecute."
The Archdiocese of Irbil has been sustaining the survivors with
medical care, food and shelter, and also assisting Yezidis and Muslims who
escaped ISIS, Smith said. At that point not "a single penny" in aid
had been offered by the U.S. and U.N. humanitarian agencies — despite Smith
chairing nine congressional hearings about it, he said.
Help also was forthcoming from the Aid to the Church in Need, the
Knights of Columbus and other U.S. and European charities.
Since his trip, Smith reported, U.S. and U.N. representatives
have visited these refugees and "have promised aid and protection."
"Whether it be defending unborn babies and their mothers
from the wanton violence of abortion or protecting the vulnerable victims of
human trafficking or feeding the hungry or mitigating terrorism and war — the
exponential increase in the number of persecuted Christians worldwide today,
begs a far more robust, effective and sustained response."
He said tools embedded in laws such as the Frank Wolf
International Religious Freedom Act "need to be rigorously utilized"
by the United States to respond to this crisis.
President Barack Obama Dec. 16 signed the bipartisan measure,
which was written by Smith and co-sponsored by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-California.
It gave the Obama administration and now the Trump administration and the U.S.
State Department new tools, resources and training to counter extremism and
combat a worldwide escalation of persecution of religious minorities.
It will improve U.S. religious freedom diplomacy efforts
globally; better train and equip diplomats to counter extremism; address
anti-Semitism and religious persecution and mitigate sectarian conflict.
Smith thanked Vice President Mike Pence for his remarks at the
summit May 11, which "made it clear that religious freedom both at home
and abroad is an extremely high priority for the new (Trump) administration."
Pence told attendees that "the suffering of Christians in
the Middle East has stirred America to act" and that President Donald
Trump has made it clear the U.S. "will stand by followers of Christ in
this hour of need."
Smith said more work must be done to meet the needs of genocide
victims of Iraq and Syria. To that end, in January he reintroduced the Iraq and
Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act, or H.R. 390. The House
Foreign Affairs Committee adopted the measure, and Smith hoped for House
passage "within days."
"This bill directs the U.S. government to provide
humanitarian assistance to Christians and other religious minorities who
survived the genocide and support ongoing criminal investigations into
perpetrators to ensure they are held accountable," he explained.