Recently in Religious Persecurtion Category

Barry, President Obama opened the door with a brief mention of religious freedom in his 55-minute speech to the Arab world. To his credit, he did bring up the importance of religious freedom, saying:  "Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it."  It's a good beginning, but President Obama must use this opportunity to take some real action - to engage this issue with those in the Middle East who have a notorious record for persecuting Christians and others who do not embrace Islam.  

He did include a couple of lines about 'religious diversity' - "Among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure one's own faith by the rejection of somebody else's. The richness of religious diversity must be upheld - whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt."

Barry, this is an issue where President Obama must use his presidential clout - this isn't just about religious 'tolerance' - it's about real life-and-death issues facing those who want to practice their religious faith.  We have just completed detailed reports about the persecution of Christians in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

As you know, Jay, I am not unsympathetic to the plight of the many of the people you represent around the world.  There are strong human rights arguments to be made in asylum cases in Europe--and frankly strong ones to be made in the United States as well.

However, tomorrow's speech by the President in Cairo is probably not the time or place to highlight with great specificity religious persecution in the Islamic world.  I would expect him to do what he did in Turkey earlier this year: explain that the United States is committed to democracy and religious freedom and expect those principles to be exemplars to the rest of the world.  The President noted at that time: "I've said before that one of the great strengths of the United States is- although as I mentioned we have a very large Christian population- we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation.  We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."

Barry, I've just returned from Israel where we have opened an office in Jerusalem.  In addition to our work at the European Court of Human Rights in France, we are working out of Jerusalem on a number of cases involving religious persecution.  We're currently engaged in defending persecuted Christians in places like the Gaza Strip, Syria and Pakistan.  

Not long ago, we assisted in relocating the family of Rami Ayyad of Gaza, an operator of a Christian bookstore, who was brutally murdered by Hamas because of his Christian faith.  We were able to assist in removing the widow and her three children to a safer area and relocating them after his murder.

And with our affiliate organization, the European Centre for Law and Justice, we recently secured an important victory in the United Kingdom  where an immigration court of appeals for the first time recognized the plight of Syrian Evangelical Christians with Muslim backgrounds who faced real danger - including possible death - if they returned home.