FGGAM MEDIA CENTER Received this news release:
Save the Persecuted Christians Welcomes President Trump’s Executive Order Promoting International Religious Freedom
EO Calls for Practical Steps to Encourage Religious Liberty, Curb Persecution
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has made a priority of protecting freedom of religion, at home and abroad. Today, he operationalized that commitment by identifying in an Executive Order issued today (Yesterday) practical measures to advance this cause by bringing U.S. government personnel and resources to bear by, among other things, empowering communities around the world whose religious liberty is imperiled.
Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC), a growing grassroots movement aimed at addressing systemically the global, genocidal assault on 327 million followers of Jesus, was particularly encouraged by the inclusion among such measures of presidential direction to do two things STPC was founded to promote: 1) hold the perpetrators accountable for their crimes against humanity; and 2) impose real costs on them for such behavior.
The order reads in part:
Foreign Assistance Funding for International Religious Freedom. (a) The Secretary [of State] shall, in consultation with the Administrator of USAID, budget at least $50 million per fiscal year for programs that advance international religious freedom, to the extent feasible and permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations. Such programs shall include those intended to anticipate, prevent, and respond to attacks against individuals and groups on the basis of their religion, including programs designed to help ensure that such groups can persevere as distinct communities; to promote accountability for the perpetrators of such attacks; to ensure equal rights and legal protections for individuals and groups regardless of belief; to improve the safety and security of houses of worship and public spaces for all faiths; and to protect and preserve the cultural heritages of religious communities….
(b) The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may consider imposing sanctions under Executive Order 13818 of December 20, 2017 (Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption), which, among other things, implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (Public Law 114-328). (Emphasis added throughout.)
Save the Persecuted Christians congratulates President Trump for this important initiative and looks forward to working with him and his subordinates in realizing its potential to relieve the suffering of untold hundreds of millions of Christians and other believers around the world suffering for their faith.
