Land says U. S. policy needs change on suffering Christians

by Tom Strode                                                                                                                       Vol. IX, No. 3, March 1996

The U.S. government "has been woefully negligent in dealing with" the global persecution of Christians and should take firm action to remedy this shortcoming, the head of the Southern Baptist Convention's religious liberty agency told a congressional panel.

"This issue has not occupied a significant place in American foreign policy. It has often not even been on the State Department's radar screen, and that must change," Christian Life Commission President Richard Land said Feb. 15.

Land's testimony was part of a hearing on the persecution of Christians before the International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee. It was the subcommittee's first time to hold a hearing specifically on the persecution of Christians, subcommittee chairman Christopher Smith, R-N.J., said.

Most of the 12 witnesses cited widespread persecution of Christians, especially under communist and Islamic regimes. Some also testified to the U.S. government's failure to assist believers in escaping such suffering.

President Bill Clinton should take the following steps, Land said, to reverse the United States' indifference toward persecution of Christians:

-- Deliver a "hard-hitting, major policy address, making it clear that governments seeking to be on favorable and friendly terms with the United States must not persecute Christian minorities."

-- Appoint a special adviser on religious liberty "who would have broad-based authority" to investigate and monitor accounts of persecution and report them, as well as the response of U.S. government agencies, to the president.

Land also made recommendations to remedy failures by the U.S. State Department:

-- Jim Sasser, U.S. ambassador to China, should be recalled and fully briefed on the extent of the persecution of Christians in that country. In January, Sasser said at a meeting of non-governmental organizations he was unaware of the house-church movement in China and of the persecution of its members, Land said. It is reprehensible "that in the many months of briefings given him by the State Department that they did not brief him on the persecutions of a movement that may number 80 million people in China," Land said.

-- An investigation should be initiated as to why the State Department did not make the ending of religious persecution a prerequisite for diplomatic recognition of Vietnam.

-- Attorney General Janet Reno should dispatch a bulletin to Immigration and Naturalization Service hearing officers ordering them to process diligently claims of refugees from anti-Christian persecution. There is an "anti-Christian bias in U.S. government circles" which prevents believers from escaping suffering and fleeing to this country, Land said.

-- The head of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission should speak on persecution of Christians and other religious adherents at the commission's meeting in March.-- An investigation should be launched to determine what State Department official was responsible "for advising participants not to carry Bibles or religious literature with them" to the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in September. 

-- A full investigation and report should be forthcoming, reports the consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, related to the Saudi government’s demands for the cessation of Christian worship by U.S. personnel on consulate grounds.

The United States should take a “hard look” at its policy with regard to Vietnam and China, Land said. Vietnam probably will be considered for most favored nation trade status this year for the first time, and China’s MFN status will be up for renewal in May.

“It seems that at least in regard to persecution of Christians, often the State Department has been in the posture of abject surrender to the most repressive of regimes which have denied fundamental American values of freedom from religious persecution,” Land said.

“A focussed campaign against these persecutions supported by a committed domestic constituency, such as sensitized and informed American Christians, can, and we believe will, have tremendous benefits.” [BP]