News Briefs

Trump signs law to aid Christians in Iraq, Syria

December 11, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Washington D.C., Dec 11, 2018 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- President Donald Trump signed into law Tuesday the Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act, which seeks to ensure US aid reaches Christian and Yazidi genocide victims.

The bill was passed unanimously in the House Nov. 27, and in the Senate Oct. 11.

This bill was introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), and the lead Democratic sponsor was Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA). This was Smith’s second attempt at getting the bill signed into law, and altogether it took 17 months for this bill to be passed.  

Trump was joined at the Dec. 11 signing by Vice President Mike Pence, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, Ambassador to the Holy See Callista Gingrich, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus Carl Anderson, Smith, Eshoo, Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, and many others.

Trump said it was a “great honor” to sign H.R. 390 into law, and remarked that his administration has had great success in fighting Islamic State. The group has lost nearly all of its territory since its peak in 2015.

“This bill continues my administration’s efforts to direct US assistance for persecuted communities including through faith-based programs,” he said.

The signing of the legislation is a symbol of the US speaking “with bold moral clarity and political unanimity,” Anderson said in a statement provided by the Knights of Columbus, which were heavily involved with the process of writing the bill and assisting the situation of Christians in the Middle East.

Since 2014, the Knights of Columbus have donated more than $20 million to help Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria with food, housing, and other needs. The Knights also spent $2 million to rebuild an Iraqi town that had been destroyed by Islamic State.

H.R. 390 provides funding to various entities, including faith-based and religious organizations, that are helping with recovery and stabilization efforts in Iraq and Syria in religious and ethnic minority communities, including Christians and Yazidis.

The bill also instructs the Trump administration to “assess and address the humanitarian vulnerabilities, needs, and triggers that might force these survivors to flee” the region and for the administration to identify signs of potential violent action against minority groups in the country.

Another part of the law encourages foreign governments to identify those who belong to Islamic State in security databases and security screenings to aid with their prosecution. The bill provides support for groups that are investigating members of Islamic State who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the region.

Since Islamic State took control of the region, the country’s Christian population has dwindled to only a few thousand families. Many of these people fled to nearby Turkey and Lebanon out of concern for their safety. Although the situation has drastically improved since nearly all of Islamic State’s territory has been regained, Christians are reluctant to return to the region due to a lack of economic opportunities and continued concerns for safety.

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Iran, China detain hundreds of Christians

December 11, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Tehran, Iran, Dec 11, 2018 / 02:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- While religious leaders marked the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights this week by saying that more should be done to preserve human rights, both Iran and China detained upwards of 100 Christians.

The United Nations declaration, which was proclaimed Dec. 10, 1948, affirms that “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom … to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

Pope Francis told a conference meeting on human rights Monday that everyone is “called to contribute with courage and determination, in the specificity of their role, to the respect of the fundamental rights of every person.”

And ahead of the declaration’s anniversary, the Holy See’s representative to the United Nations said the occasion presented an opportunity to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,” while also warning that parts of the world are experiencing the consequences of failing to uphold those rights.

Thus, according to Open Doors UK, 114 Christians were arrested last week in Iran. And the New York Times reports that in China’s Sichuan province, a Protestant pastor and more than 100 members of his congregation were detained Dec. 9.

In China, the Sunday raid was conducted at Early Rain Covenant Church, an underground community in Chengdu, which is led by Wang Yi. Some members of the ecclesial community were released Dec. 10, but were then put under house arrest.

Wang is a prominent human rights activist; he met with US president George W. Bush in 2006 to discuss religious freedom in China.

Sam Brownback, the US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, tweeted about the raid, saying, “we’re deeply concerned” about the government “crackdown on house churches.”

“We call on China to release leaders/congregants & allow members of unregistered churches to exercise their #ReligiousFreedom rights,” Brownback wrote.

Religious freedom is officially guaranteed by the Chinese constitution, but religious groups must register with the government, and are overseen by the Chinese Communist Party. President Xi Jinping has in recent years pushed for the Sinicization of religion and strengthened government oversight.

China has practiced greater repressions of Muslims in recent years; it is believed that as many as 1 million Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnoreligious group in China’s far west, are being held in extra-legal detention.

The Telegraph reported Dec. 10 that many of the Christians detained in Iran last week were converts from Islam. They were instructed to cut off ties with Christian groups and to relate the story of their Christian activities.

Shia Islam is the state religion of Iran, though several religious minorities are recognized and granted freedom of worship. However, conversion from Islam is strictly prohibited.

Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern, told the Telegraph that the reinstatement of sanctions on Iran by the US “has contributed to the government’s ever-increasing dependence on hardline Islamic ayatollahs, who naturally see Christianity as a threat to their power. For this reason, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing an increase in Christian persecution.”

An Open Doors spokesperson, Zoe Smith, commented that the increase in arrests of Christians “follows an established trend of the Iranian government – as the number of converts to Christianity increase, so the authorities place greater restrictions on churches,” adding that “the restrictions are worse for churches seen to be attended by Christians who have converted from Islam.”

 

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