Don Nickles: “today I am prompted to speak by both a tragic reality, and also what I would think is a promising hope. The tragic…”

“today I am prompted to speak by both a tragic reality, and also what I would think is a promising hope. The tragic reality is that literally millions of religious believers around the world live gripped by the incessant, terrifying prospect of persecution, of being tortured, arrested, imprisoned or even killed for simply practicing their faith. A promising hope, I believe, might perhaps be found in the bill that I am introducing today with Senator Lieberman, Senator Mack, Senator Kempthorne, Senator Craig, Senator Hutchinson and Senator DeWine. It is called the International Religious Freedom Act. The International Religious Freedom Act will establish a process to ensure that on an ongoing basis the United States closely monitors religious persecution worldwide. It is wrong for a country to persecute, to prosecute, to imprison, harass individuals for simply practicing their faith, whether that faith is Jewish or Christian or Muslim or Hindu. It is absolutely wrong for them to be persecuted for practicing their faith. This act requires the U.S. Government to take action against all countries engaging in religious persecution.”