By Jay Sekulov, American Center for Law and Justice
Today (3/11/15) I will testify before the U.S. Senate about the plight of persecuted Christians across the globe.
Christians face more persecution today than at any time in history, from jihadist regimes, to Muslim mobs, to genocidal terrorist armies. America can and must do more to protect these persecuted Christians around the globe.
You can read my full testimony submitted to the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations here.
Below are some of the key points I will address to Congress on behalf of the ACLJ, over 150,000 of our members who have already signed our Petition to Protect Persecuted Christians, and thousands of persecuted Christians across the globe.
Iran
Despite its international obligations and constitutional promises, Iran is one of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.
Christians in Iran, especially those from a Muslim background, face harassment, loss of employment, denial of education, arrests, brutal interrogations, and the threat of death for exercising their faith. Iran has systematically closed all Farsi-speaking churches. They heavily monitor all remaining churches and forbid entrance or baptism of new members from a Muslim background. Also, Iran has banned Christian literature and Bibles in Farsi.
Iran is silently suffocating the Church. Even private worship comes at a risk. For example, Iran convicted American citizen, Saeed Abedini of intentionally threatening the national security of Iran solely because he had prayed with Christians in private homes. Pastor Saeed is presently serving an eight-year prison sentence and is suffering from untreated internal injuries that he obtained from beatings he endured since his arrest.
At the close of 2014, ninety-two Christians remained imprisoned. These are only theknown cases. Because of threats against victims and their families, the number is certainly much higher. Hundreds more have been released but face constant threats.
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we are so blessed to be in the United States of America. Imagine what would happen in your local church if gunmen would invade your church on a Sunday morning and tell you how to worship. How would you feel?
Here is the most recent offense committed by the “Religion of Peace” from the BBC. Headline – “Ten dead in Christian church blasts in Lahore”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-31894478#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Any bets on how long it will take the usual suspects to show up in this thread to decry the retaliatory violence meted out on the accomplices and the interdiction of the security guard who prevented more violence:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/taliban-attacks-on-pakistan-churches-kill-14-spark-riots/story-e6frg6so-1227263910760
Larger churches have quietly begun having security posted near entrances and training their “greeters” to be watchful. Of course, this doesn’t really apply to most Presbyterian churches because “large” and Presbyterian church” are not often used in the same sentence…except this sentence.