Political Quotes

“I'm pleased today to rise in support of H.R. 440, a bill to establish a special envoy to promote religious freedom of religious minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia. As a cosponsor of this bipartisan legislation and as a member of the Religious Minorities of the Middle East Caucus, I strongly support its passage. While many parts of the Near East and Southeast Asia are predominantly Muslim, historically these areas have been home to a diverse group of ethnic and religious minorities. Whether it is Chaldeans, Syriacs, and Assyrians in Iraq, Baha'i in Iran, Copts in Egypt, or the Hindus in Pakistan, religious minorities have for centuries lived and worshipped alongside their Muslim countrymen and women. Unfortunately, instability in the Middle East has had a disproportionately negative impact on religious minorities. The most striking example of this has been in Iraq, where more than half of the Iraqi Christian population has been forced to flee the country since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Those who have stayed have been specifically targeted in gruesome and random acts of violence, such as murder, rape, and abduction. This includes religious and community leaders like Archbishop Rahho, who was kidnapped and murdered. Religious minorities have also suffered attacks in their places of worship, such as the October 2010 massacre at Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad, in which 58 worshipers were killed by militants and extremists.…”