Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today Senator Blunt and I have introduced the Near East and South Central Asia Religious Freedom Act of 2011. The purpose of this legislation is to establish within the State Department a special envoy to promote freedom of worship for religious minorities in this important region of the world. It is a tragic fact that in many of the nations of the Near East and South Central Asia, this universal human right, the freedom to worship in keeping with one's conscience, is in doubt. I would point my colleagues to the State Department's most recent Report on International Religious Freedom, published late last year. The report concludes, among other things, that: in Iran, ``government respect for religious freedom in the country continued to deteriorate''; in Iraq, ``violence conducted by terrorists, extremists, and criminal gangs restricted the free exercise of religion and posed a significant threat to the country's vulnerable religious minorities''; in Afghanistan, respect for the rights of religious minorities deteriorated; in Pakistan organized violence against religious minorities had increased; and in Tajikistan the government passed new laws restricting religious practice. The legislation we introduce today seeks to combat such abuses by placing a high-level official within the State Department to focus the Nation's diplomatic efforts on promoting freedom of worship.…”