Chris Smith

We should take full advantage of it in order to promote freedom of religion, human rights here at home and abroad.

The Chinese Communist Party has undertaken the most comprehensive attempt to manipulate and control or destroy religious communities since Chairman Mao Zedong made the eradication of religion a goal of his disastrous cultural revolution…

No more slaps on the wrist for Xi Jinping. He needs to be held to account, and I think severe economic sanctions is the only tangible way to do it.

The worst violators of religious freedom globally are often the biggest threats to our nation and that is no coincidence.

It is very discouraging because, you know, forced conversions, all the things that they have done against the churches.

In May of this year, I reintroduced the Vietnam Human Rights Act, which parenthetically passed the House four times in the past, only to die in the Senate.

I think the distinguished members of this panel and many other elected officials know that's not the truth.

Religious believers of every persuasion are harassed, arrested, jailed, or tortured.

We call for the unconditional and immediate release of Bishop Alvarez, and he has been unjustly sentenced to more than 26 years.

I think about Nicaragua in our own hemisphere, a terrible actor in the Ortega, a little country with people who are suffering.

USCIRF has recommended designating India as a CPC in its past four annual reports.

Religious liberty, as we all know, is one of America's founding ideals, a cornerstone of our democracy.

That was a genocide committed by the Bosnian Serbs.

I would point out that he is the only person under IRFA that was sanctioned because of serious allegations of killing Muslims.

I was shocked that the State Department failed to designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern in 2022.

China continues to be one of the worst abusers of human rights in the world.

The American Humanist Association branded all those who went to National Prayer Breakfast as Christian nationalists.

The rising tide of anti-Semitism worldwide is cause for serious alarm with no sign of abating.

I will say that the Iranian people felt that then what? Zero from that administration at the time.

I mean, this man is an incredibly brave man of God, and he is being persecuted horribly.

The U.S. should tirelessly advance and defend internationally recognized human rights around the world.

Are we doing enough? We have passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Act, which needs some amending.

You are there to protect our rights. It is not from the state.

A robust U.S. freedom agenda... should generally respect the sincerely held religious convictions of foreign societies.

I am convinced that there is more the United States can do to protect and promote the freedom of religion worldwide.