Washington D.C., Aug 15, 2017 / 04:57 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Religious freedom advocates were heartened by the State Department recognizing in its annual religious freedom report released Tuesday the genocide of Christians by the Islamic State.
“As we make progress in defeating ISIS and denying them their caliphate, their terrorist members have and continue to target multiple religions and ethnic groups for rape, kidnapping, enslavement, and even death,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stated at the Aug. 15 release of the 2016 International Religious Freedom report.
“Application of the law to the facts at hand leads to the conclusion ISIS is clearly responsible for genocide against Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims in areas it controls or has controlled,” he said. “ISIS is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups, and in some cases against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities.”
The annual State Department report is mandated by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, which created the Office of International Religious Freedom at the State Department and worked to make promoting religious freedom a part of U.S. foreign policy.
The 2016 report makes explicit reference to the “genocide” of Christians, Yazidis, and Shia Muslims at the hands of the Islamic State, or “Daesh.” Then-Secretary of State John Kerry had said in March of 2016 that “in my judgement, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims.”
In 2014, Islamic State militants conquered large areas of territory in Iraq and Syria, forcing religious and ethnic minorities in the region to stay and convert to Islam, leave, or die.
Reports documented that Islamic State committed mass killings of Christians, Yazidis, Shia Muslims, and others, as well as enslaving women and children. The Knights of Columbus and In Defense of Christians partnered to release a massive report documenting Islamic State atrocities committed against Christians.
As Islamic State has been driven from towns in northern Iraq, the inhabitants have returned to find their homes vandalized and their churches desecrated or destroyed.
“America’s promotion of international religious freedom demands standing up for the rights of the world’s most vulnerable populations,” the preface to the State Department’s report stated.
Tillerson added that in addition to Christians being targeted for genocide in Iraq and Syria, they have also been targeted by Islamic State militants in Egypt.
“The protection of these groups – and others subject to violent extremism – is a human rights priority for the Trump administration,” he said.
Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., welcomed Tillerson’s statement as an even more forceful pronouncement of genocide than was made by the previous administration.
Tillerson, Shea said, “forcefully clarified that ISIS has the ‘specific intent’ of destroying the Christian community, along with the other two minorities.”
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), the author of the update to the original International Religious Freedom Act, also praised Tillerson for specifically recognizing the atrocities committed against minorities under Islamic State.
“I want to commend Secretary Tillerson for focusing on those who have been victims of genocide,” he said. “These groups are looking for help and leadership, and I am proud that after eight years of denial and foot dragging, this report positions the United States to become a world leader in helping those who need it most.”
Tillerson, in his remarks unveiling the report on Tuesday, also focused on the persecution of minorities in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China, Pakistan, Sudan, and Bahrain.
In Iran, for instance, 20 persons were executed by the state in 2016 for apostasy charges including “waging war against God,” he said. Baha’i leaders are still imprisoned for their religious beliefs in the country, where the state religion is Ja’afari Shia Islam.
In Turkey, religious minorities have seen their rights infringed upon by the government, which has also imprisoned Pastor Andrew Brunson who should be released, Tillerson said.
“Turkey continues to unjustly imprison Dr. Andrew Brunson without charges, and I appreciate Secretary Tillerson reminding the world of this. It is important for America to be clear about the human rights abuses happening around the world,” Sen. Lankford (R-Okla.) said.
Tillerson also named Saudi Arabia as a violator of human rights and religious freedom, as punishments like prison and lashings are given to persons for charges of apostasy, atheism, blasphemy, and insulting the state’s interpretation of Islam.
“We urge Saudi Arabia to embrace greater degrees of religious freedom for all of its citizens,” Tillerson stated to the U.S. ally.
China is another well-known human rights violator, torturing and detaining thousands of citizens for their religious beliefs, including Uyghur Muslims and the members of Falun Gong, Tillerson said.
However, the secretary did not also mention that Christians are persecuted by the government there. State-sanctioned destruction of churches, or removing crosses from churches, has become commonplace in some provinces, and state officials have hampered parents from bringing their children to church.
In addition, the Vatican and the Chinese government have been working on an agreement on the appointment of bishops in the state-sanctioned Church, although critics like Cardinal Joseph Zen, the Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, say the atheistic government will continue to meddle in the elections of bishops.
Smith said the report “rightly shows that China’s religious freedom conditions are among the world’s worst.”
“The Chinese government is an equal opportunity abuser of the rights of Protestants, Catholics, Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims and Falun Gong practitioners – all who face imprisonment and torture for practicing their faith,” he said.
Calling the report “a step in the right direction,” he also commended the reporting on other countries, such as Vietnam, Pakistan, Nigeria. and Syria, “with individuals who simply want to worship in peace being beaten, jailed, tortured or worse.”
“The more difficult step will be to place these countries or non-state actors like ISIS and Boko Haram on the U.S. blacklist of severe religious freedom violators,” he said.
This would include updating the “Countries of Particular Concern” list, which is comprised of countries the State Department deems where the worst violations of religious freedom are taking place and the government is either the instigator, actively complicit, or is powerless to stop the abuses.
The creation of the list was mandated by the International Religious Freedom Act as a way to hold violators of religious freedom accountable. Actions can be legally taken against such countries if the State Department places them on the CPC list, like imposing sanctions.
With the rise of non-state terror groups like Islamic State and Boko Haram, Smith’s bill created the “Entities of Particular Concern” designation for violators of religious freedom that are not themselves states and who are active in multiple countries.
The State Department currently has designated China, Burma, Eritrea, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan as CPCs.
Pakistan does not occupy a place on the list despite leading the world in the number of prison sentences for blasphemy, which can carry a death sentence.
Also, Tillerson did not mention Russia in his remarks, despite the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan federal commission that advises the State Department, asking that it be added to the CPC list as one of the worst violators of religious freedom.
In its annual report earlier this year, the commission pointed to the criminalization of certain non-sanctioned religious beliefs in the Russian mainland, and the treatment of minorities in the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula as serious abuses that merited Russia’s place on the CPC list. Recently, Russia’s supreme court rejected an appeal of the outlawing of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the country.
Religious freedom advocates applauded the Trump administration’s selection earlier this summer of an Ambassador at-Large for International Religious Freedom, who is charged with monitoring abuses of freedom of religion abroad and promoting religious freedom as part of U.S. foreign policy.
President Donald Trump nominated Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, a former U.S. Senator, for the position. Lankford expressed his desire that Brownback be confirmed for the position soon.
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What stuns me is how deeply and swiftly into a loss of a common sense the world is falling. Shouldn’t it be self-evident that, if a child’s normal puberty (hormonal production) is being blocked his fertility (and not only fertility) will suffer long term?
It appears to me that many modern people see their bodies as some plastic dolls – inject into that plastic shape some meds, shake it well and later, if it does not work, we can just pour out, rinse and be fine and try something else. The same attitude pervades those who happily go for plastic surgeries, I think. There is no normal apprehension “what if it will go wrong” before doing something drastic with one’s own body or the body of one’s own child. This, by the way, is sharply at odds with “a nature = Gaya worshiping”.
Puberty blockers and hormonal meds affect not only physical but psychological health as well. They can cause a wide spectrum of reactions, from severe depression and anxiety to psychotic elation. However, those “doctors” who usher them on the trans-road somehow do make a connection between the meds they already prescribed and the worsened mental symptoms, up to suicidal ideation. “Look how depressed you are” they say to a child/teen, “do not worry, take those meds and you will feel far better after we get your breasts/penis cut off”.
Anyone who thinks you can ply a human being with all kinds of hormones (even those that are contraceptives) – especially during the developmental years – and not cause damage to the organism are either certifiably insane, irreversibly stupid or evil (some win the trifecta). I also place in the same category those lemmings who take experimental and untested vaccines because the government tells them they should (and also shields the pharmaceutical companies that makes them from product liability lawsuits.)
Were you vaccinated? Do you also deny the validity of all other vaccines against diseases? If bit by a rabid animal would you refuse treatment? Do you really believe that the multiple attempts to find a way of preventing COVID around the entire globe was an evil conspiracy concocted by a much corrupted medical profession. Perhaps COVID was created and intentionally released by evil people for unknown reasons; but to believe that the attempt to treat the disease and prevent multiple deaths is evil makes no sense at all. Yes, it’s highly likely that some people took advantage of this situation for selfish and or evil purposes ( this is to be expected of our fallen human state ); but that does not negate the good intentions or motivations of those who produced the vaccines. It may be true that the vaccines were ineffective or even harmful, but we do not really know that and surely did not know it at the time . The epidemic was so sudden and unexpected and the nature of the virus so unknown, that there was not time to subject create and test possible treatments the way we usually do. Time was of essence and risks had to be taken. It’s easy for an armchair Monday morning quarterback to make judgements on a play; but it’s much a different situation for the quarterback himself in pocket in the heat of the game with sore muscles and dirty sweat in his eyes. He throws his best ball in spite of it all. No one can really judge him, because they were not him in his shoes. The same can be said for the whole COVID scenario. Let’s give thanks for the many good people who tried their best to save lives. Let’s at least give them the benefit of doubt. My dear Deacon, we may disagree and still be brothers in Christ. May God bless your ministry , you are in my prayers.
Mr. Connor, I don’t see anything in Deacon Edward’s comments that suggest a rejection of all vaccines. Many people are concerned about the side effects of pharmaceuticals & especially those created in a hurry.
I really don’t think we’ll have all the answers about Covid for years. And considering it’s possible source, perhaps never.
I was a child myself once (I’m pretty certain all of us were). So was my brother. I remember that by the time we reached school age, both of us were very self-conscious about allowing even our parents to “see us” unclothed! I remember not using the school bathroom all day because there were no doors on the stall (what insanity prompted that policy?!). Both my brother and I were terrified of doctors and nurses who poked and prodded us during examinations–I remember screaming while a doctor examined me. What horrors must these children be experiencing while they are being “examined” and questioned? How does a child feel when a “professional” who has just poked and prodded their bodies announces, with a gentle smile, that the child “feels bad” because they are in the wrong body? Does that make them feel “better?!” Really?! Do they really think, “Thank goodness, this kind doctor has figured out how to help me feel happy again!” Do they even understand the differences between boys and girls at these young ages? How horrible for a child to wake up with sore/painful incision wounds on their private parts–these wounds will require daily wound care!–surely it is an awful experience for these children to have a parent or health care professional touching their body parts that they were always told by parents and teachers are “private!” The mental and psychological trauma caused by these surgeries surely causes any depression and/or anxiety to worsen! And in the meantime, is anyone trying to figure out alternative reasons why a child might feel “sad” all the time? Perhaps it’s because a pet died, or a cherished relative or friend, or perhaps they are anxious because they are watching a scary TV show that their parents are laughing at but that the child is afraid of? Or maybe they are being bullied, not because of their sex, but because bullies are MEAN and often, no teacher is allowed (or has the courage) to confront a bully and put a firm STOP to their violent taunts, threats, and physical attacks. Maybe the child has stomachaches or headaches because of a physical issue–e.g., food intolerance or over/under eating, or maybe the child needs glasses.
What medical professionals are violating their “do no harm” oath when it comes to treating supposedly “trans” children? They should be stripped of their licenses and forbidden to ever be around minor children or teenagers again.
The medical and legal establishment is now monetizing surgical experiments on human beings.
Eighty years ago we fought against fanatics who committed such human experiments, and we put them on trial for crimes against humanity, and hung them for committing these crimes.
I don’t foresee hanging but I do expect to see litigation.
Yes, it is the gist. But in the Nazi concentration camps the victims were unwilling. Now they are willing and it means that humanity hugely advance on its path to a total and “soft” mind control. Imagine some Gypsy woman willing coming to Ravensbrück (women concentration camp) and requesting that she and her daughter will be sterilized. This is exactly what is happening.
There are some cancers that are hormone based. To keep another tumor from happening the patient is given hormone blockers.
Catch 22. Depending on the hormone the patient must have a procedure to rebuild the bone; or else the patient will have osteoporosis.
The big difference is most people who develop a hormone cancer are adults. They are past childbearing years.
Teenagers are to become parents. What are these blockers and replacement procedures doing to all of the organs? When a 30 year old wants to marry and have children but discovers they are sterile. Will they figure out this is a delayed side effect from the trans drugs.
The advent of the contraceptive pill and its acceptance in medical practice represented a fundamental abandonment by the medical profession of the Hippocratic Oath. It was the first time that the profession allowed the deliberate prescription of a substance designed to interfere with normal physiology and function. Early varieties of oral contraceptives caused unexpected complications, most notably venous thrombosis complicated by pulmonary embolism and death. Rather than banning such prescribing, modifications to dosage were tried and tested for no reason other than to allow big pharma the ability to continue making obscene profits – not to care for the needs of women. The outrageous use of gender altering medication and risky surgery to alter the external appearances of normal gender development is in the same category, contrary to the ideals of Hippocratic medicine which sadly continue to be eroded. Worse, of course, is the cooperation of the law, once the great protector of human life in all its forms, in aiding and abetting these abominations through legislation. And where was this abandonment of the ideals of medicine born? In the USA!! God love America – with hands on heart, of course. The Mayo clinic data screams out “Abandon this abomination and affirm its criminality through laws that punish it rather than, as happened with the contraceptive pill, approve, aid and abet it.
Amen! Let’s not forget, however, that one of the biggest cheerleaders for this trans-mania is our devoutly Catholic president, Joe Biden, according to whose word — and how could anyone doubt that? — the pope himself called “a good Catholic” who should continue receiving Communion.
Thank you in advance min.
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