Arlen Specter: “on behalf of Senators Helms, Bennett, and Faircloth I am submitting a sense-of-the-Senate resolution to highlight the…”

“on behalf of Senators Helms, Bennett, and Faircloth I am submitting a sense-of-the-Senate resolution to highlight the top priority that must be given to combating religious persecution in foreign countries. This resolution calls on President Clinton to live up to his commitment, made in January 1996, to appoint a White House senior advisor on religious persecution. The persecution of Christians and other religious minorities is a growing problem. In countries such as Saudi Arabia, Sudan, China, and Ethiopia, among other countries, Christians are systematically denied their religious liberties. Christians have been the victims of rape, torture, enslavement, imprisonment, killings, mutilations, and discrimination simply because of their religious beliefs. The governments of these countries all too often tacitly, or even openly, endorse this sectarian violence. According to human rights organizations, the Sudanese Government is essentially waging a war against its Christian population. The government's campaign against the Christian and non-Muslim populations of southern Sudan has resulted in more than 1.3 million deaths and the displacement of over 3 million people. Equally shocking are reports that the Sudanese Government is involved in the enslavement and forced internment and conversion of the Christian populations from the southern regions of Sudan.”