Save the Persecuted Christians Delivers Letter to Call on Trump Administration to ‘Speak Boldly and Specifically About the Global Persecution of Christians’
88 Organizations and 500+ Individuals Sign Impassioned Letter
WASHINGTON—Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC), a bipartisan, multi-faith coalition of nearly 200 civil society, faith and community leaders who advocate for more than 300 million persecuted Christians globally, yesterday delivered an open letter to President Donald Trump to call on his administration to “speak boldly and specifically about the global persecution of Christians.”
The letter, signed by 88 organizations and over 500 individuals begins:
“We write as people of faith to express our deep appreciation for all that you do to stand with religious believers and to counter those who restrict or deny the practice of their faith. No administration in modern times has done more than yours to safeguard this foundational liberty.”
Unfortunately, while many faith communities suffer persecution, none are being more systematically and massively subjected to it all over the world than Christians. Mounting evidence suggests that followers of Jesus are being persecuted in growing numbers, causing Save the Persecuted Christians and other advocates to redouble efforts on their behalf.
“Today we were encouraged that President Trump indeed spoke boldly and specifically about protecting the world’s Christian minorities at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning,” said Dede Laugesen, Save the Persecuted Christians executive director.
The letter continues that last year a U.K. government-sponsored report by the Bishop of Truro Philip Mounstephen found that anti-Christian persecution is “coming close to genocide.” Open Doors USA’s 2020 World Watch List estimates 260 million Christians globally are being heavily persecuted for their faith. This number, immense as it is, represents but a fraction of those suffering in Christ’s name when those less violently persecuted are included. Aid to the Church in Need assesses an even larger population—327 million followers of Jesus—or about the same number of men, women and children currently living in the United States.
“There are many steps that can be taken to help address this horrific outrage taking place, not in the distant past, but in our time,” the letter signers implored. “You have, for instance, demonstrated the effectiveness of holding persecutors accountable and imposing costs for their crimes against humanity in connection with your successful effort to free Pastor Andrew Brunson. We believe more of that kind of pressure is in order and urgently needed now.
“In the meantime, there is an action that you and your subordinates could readily take that would make a material difference to the hundreds of millions of Christians suffering for their faith: You can give them hope and even some protection by making their plight a special focus of your administration’s public and private diplomacy.
“Making a special point of the enormity of the crisis afflicting Christians need not diminish your administration’s concern about other religious minorities—and more than your rightly focusing on egregious Iranian terrorism lessens our opposition to that perpetrated by others, or your singling out China’s comprehensively predatory trade practices detracts from the administration’s successful efforts to correct other unfair bilateral and multilateral trade relationships.
“Unfortunately, of late it seems that anti-Christian persecution is increasingly addressed in official communications, if at all, as just one of numerous examples of disregard for religious freedom. Often, anti-Muslim persecution, for example by the Chinese or Burmese governments, is accorded far greater attention. Unacceptable as such oppression is—and for that matter, persecution of anyone for their religious beliefs—such focus ignores the proverbial elephant in the room: the vastly larger number of Christians being imprisoned, tortured, raped, banished or killed simply because they follow Jesus.
“Subordinating the immense persecution of Christians to a more generic focus on religious freedom has another risk. It can have the effect of affording certain communities the latitude to assert that, since their faith is superior to all others, their exercise of religious liberty entitles them to restrict its practice by others. This is not a hypothetical concern. Such religious supremacism is estimated to be the proximate cause of at least eighty percent of the persecution of Christians taking place around the world. It must be called out and opposed, not in any way enabled, however unintentionally.
“We are gratified that the United Kingdom has just moved to accept in full the Bishop of Truro’s recommendations for addressing the nightmare of anti-Christian persecution. It offers a template for action by our own government. We urge you in addition to begin immediately to build on your extraordinary record of care and engagement on behalf of religious believers by using your ‘bully pulpit’ and other vehicles available to your administration boldly to call attention to the uniquely horrific persecution facing followers of Christ.”
Besides Save the Persecuted Christians leaders Laugesen, Frank J. Gaffney, president and CEO, Rev. Kevin Jessip, chairman, Ann Schockett, director, and all STPC board members, signers to the letter include: David A. Keene, The Washington Times; Sara C. Ballenger, Capitol Hill Prayer Partners; Roxann Moss, Christians In Crisis; Kris Kubal, Intercessors for America; Faith McDonnell, Institute on Religion and Democracy; Ann Buwalda, Jubilee Campaign USA; Eric Metaxas, “The Eric Metaxas Show;” Evelyn Deleon, Embassy of United Chaplains; William J. Murray, Religious Freedom Coalition; Stephen Enada, International Committee on Nigeria; Jeffrey Daly, National Day of Repentance; Gloria Puldu, Leah Foundation; among many others.
Save the Persecuted Christians has a mission to save lives and save souls by disseminating actionable information about the magnitude of the persecution taking place globally and by mobilizing concerned Americans for the purpose of disincentivizing further attacks on those who follow Jesus.
With so much of the world’s Christian population being attacked, imprisoned and/or exiled for their beliefs, the need has never been greater for the sort of grassroots campaign STPC’s SaveUs Movement is working to foster. Its efforts are modeled after a miraculously successful one that helped free another population suffering from heavy persecution—Soviet Jews—by penalizing those in the Kremlin responsible for such repression. Through this movement, Save the Persecuted Christians endeavors to provide American policymakers with the popular support they need to effect real change worldwide and alleviate systemically the suffering being experienced by so many of those following Christ.
Post from Jan. 30th:
Save the Persecuted Christians: New Rules for Religious Groups Begin This Weekend in China
‘Harsh’ Rules That Go into Effect Feb. 1 Will Require ‘All Religious Personnel to Support and Implement Total Submission to CCP’
WASHINGTON—A new set of “harsh” rules announced in late 2019 in China will go into effect on Feb. 1, and advocates like Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) say the measures will even further limit and endanger Chinese Christians and people of other faiths.
The rules will require “all religious personnel to support and implement total submission to the Chinese Communist Party,” reports The Christian Post. They complete the “Regulations on religious affairs” revised two years ago and implemented on Feb. 1, 2018. Six chapters and 41 articles make up the new measures and deal with “the organization, functions, offices, supervision, projects and economic administration of communities and groups at both a national and local level.”
“Christians in China are already under extreme persecution,” said Dede Laugesen, STPC executive director. “While very little religious freedom was afforded in China, now every aspect of life for religious groups or communities, including how they gather and operate, will be under the thumb of the government. To add insult to injury, religious leaders will even be required to support and implement submission to the CCP.”
Added Dr. Bob Fu, leader of ChinaAid, a partner of Save the Persecuted Christians, “The new rule codifies the CCP’s ideological and leadership supremacy over all religious affairs in China. From now on, the Chinese Communist Party becomes the head of church, temples, mosques and other religious institutions.
The CCP will dominate every sphere of religion, from religious doctrines, leadership selection, financial management and foreign exchanges. There will be little autonomy and independence left for any religious organizations in China. No independent religious institutions such as house churches will be legally allowed or tolerated for existence unless it’s coerced to join the CCP’s established ‘patriotic religious organizations.’”
Persecution watchdogs warn that the latest measures will be used by the Communist government as a “legal tool to further tighten space for religious groups,” as International Christians Concern told The Christian Post. A Chinese Catholic priest also told Asia News the new provisions are another example of the Chinese Communist Party’s continued crackdown on religion, stating, “In practice, your religion no longer matters, if you are Buddhist, or Taoist, or Muslim or Christian: the only religion allowed is faith in the Chinese Communist Party.”
China has put in place, and is exporting to other countries of persecution, advanced population surveillance techniques. The country has also received criticism for enacting a social score system that further encroaches on the right of Chinese to worship freely.
The mission of Save the Persecuted Christians is to save lives and save souls by disseminating actionable information about the magnitude of the persecution taking place globally and by mobilizing concerned Americans for the purpose of disincentivizing further attacks on those who follow Jesus.
One way is through STPC’s “The People of the Cross” exhibit, which features images, facts and quotes about the persecution of Christians in multiple countries. The banner highlighting China reports that Christians in China are tracked and powerless to stop the destruction of their churches. The banner quotes Gordon G. Chang, commentator, essayist and author of “The Coming Collapse of China.”
“The Communist Party’s totalitarian ‘social credit’ system—made possible by artificial intelligence, camera surveillance, data mining and other tools—will also be used to repress Christians and others outside China,” Chang says.
The banner continues: “The Communist Party represses its citizens, imprisons human rights lawyers and pastors, demolishes churches, and has engaged in large-scale forced abortions and organ harvesting. China forbids religious education, collects DNA and biometric data from religious believers, and tortures and kills prisoners of conscience, including many Christians.”
Additional banners in “The People of the Cross” exhibit feature countries such as Turkey, North Korea, Nigeria and India. A majority of the countries highlighted in the banners are high on Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List, on which China moved up four spots to No. 23.
With so much of the world’s Christian population being imprisoned and/or harassed for their beliefs, such as Christians in China, the need has never been greater for the sort of grassroots campaign STPC’s SaveUs Movement is working to foster. Its efforts are modeled after a miraculously successful one that helped free another population suffering from heavy persecution—Soviet Jews—by penalizing those in the Kremlin responsible for such repression. Through this movement, Save the Persecuted Christians endeavors to provide American policymakers with the popular support they need to effect real change worldwide and alleviate systemically the suffering being experienced by so many of those following Christ.