by Allyson Borkowicz
Executive Summary
It was once said that in America, keeping silence in the face of evil only breeds evil, but silence is what America is doing in the face of Christian persecution, having over 700 acts of violence against Christians such as kidnapping, murders, rapes, torture, and damaging property monthly. In response to this international crisis, in 2015 a bill officially titled Expressing the Sense of the House of Representatives that Christians in the Middle East are Victims of Genocide was proposed but unfortunately died in Congress.
Introduction
In the Middle East, Christians and those who are perceived as Christians, are persecuted, raped, kidnapped, tortured, killed, or if they are lucky, run away and live in exile. They call them “infidels” and say “You don’t belong in Iraq. Leave, pay the penalty to stay, or be ready to die” (Belz, 2015). This is such a widespread issue that Christianity is reportedly the most persecuted religion around the globe in comparison to all other religions. This is not an issue of us versus them, but an issue of holding countries accountable and keeping minorities safe. As a country, based on our values, we need to stand up for the minorities, stand for the vulnerable, seek justice, raise awareness and take action. Reconsidering the bill to protect Christians and acknowledge them as a religious minority as victims of genocide is a start.
Approaches and Results
OpenDoors USA is a ministry that uses highly educated professionals to list the 50 countries in which Christians face the most persecution, in the top ten countries, 6 of them are from the Middle East. In addition to this issue, countries like Iraq, Iran, and Egypt have broken their commitment of religious freedom ignoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, and their own commitment to the Cairo Declaration and The Arab League Arab Charter on Human rights 2004. All of the declarations mentioned above protected minority religion, safety, and freedom of religious practice. However, despite these commitments, Iraq, Iran, and Egypt all fall on the world’s top 50 countries of Christian persecution.
To keep minorities in this area safe, we need to revisit and rehash this bill to help raise awareness about Christian persecution on the Middle East. The bill mentioned above, was purposed in 2015 and would recognize the historical importance of Christians in the Middle East and acknowledge that in the past several years, two-thirds of the Christians have fled despite being there for over 2,000 years. The bill would also express the war, violence and terrorism in Syria, Iraq and other places where Christians are victims of Genocide, encourage other nations to recognize this genocide, and press for priority in refugee status for such people. Unfortunately, this bill was not enacted and died in congress as an act of silence to evil, and not holding accountable the countries that have promised freedom of religious expression and safety to minorities.
Implications and Recommendations
Moving forward, it is important to enact this bill with recommendations to stand for the vulnerable and stop feeding evil with silence. One major recommendation for this bill is to not have the goal of taking all the Christians out of this area of the world by giving them priority in refugee status, but standing with them and providing culturally sensitive interventions to help build tolerance and encourage religious freedom. Historically, when the Western world tries to intervene in such issues, it is often reported that the intervention is not culturally sensitive and often creates more intolerance in these countries. Culturally sensitive interventions could look more like using diplomatic interventions rather than using the media, military, or other violent interventions.
It is also critical to bring to awareness the commitments these countries have made and how they have broken their commitments by not providing a safe place for religious freedom and worship. In many ways, the bill needs to focus on what we can do and urge other countries and parties to do to hold these countries accountable. It is important for us to urge other countries and the United Nations to take action and create consequences when commitments are not followed through. Moving forward, we need to focus on intervention in the Middle East rather than segregating Christians from their persecutors.
With this information, go forward, raise awareness, and stand for the vulnerable.