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Stop Christian Genocide
The Honorable John F. Kerry
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Mr. Secretary:
We, the undersigned, believe America must end its silence about the ongoing genocide against Christians and other minority groups in Iraq and Syria.
The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines “genocide” as killing and certain acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
Extensive and irrefutable evidence supports a finding that the so-called Islamic State’s mistreatment of Iraqi and Syrian Christians, as well as Yazidis and other vulnerable minorities, meets this definition. This evidence includes:
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assassinations of Church leaders
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mass murders and deportations
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torture
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kidnapping for ransom
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sexual enslavement and systematic rape of girls and women
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forcible conversions to Islam
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destruction of Christian churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and artifacts
ISIS’s own public statements take “credit” for the murder of Christians precisely because they are Christian and express its intent to wholly eradicate Christian and other minority communities from its “Islamic State.” Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill noted in their historic joint statement that “whole families, villages and cities of our brothers and sisters in Christ are being completely exterminated.”
The European Parliament, prominent members of both political parties in the United States, including presidential candidates on both sides, Pope Francis, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, groups such as Genocide Watch, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and American Christian leaders of a broad array of faith traditions, along with the Christian leaders of Iraq and Syria themselves, and many others, have called ISIS’s actions against Christians in Iraq and Syria genocide.
We agree, and implore you to speak up on behalf of these brutalized minority populations. We therefore urge you to declare that Christians, along with Yazidis and other minorities, are targets of ongoing genocide.
Sincerely,
Carl Anderson
Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus
Leith Anderson
President, National Association of Evangelicals
Most Rev. Samuel J. Aquila
Archbishop of Denver
Mr. Toufic Baaklini
President, In Defense of Christians
Chris Bando
Former Major League Baseball Player, Cleveland Indians
Andrew Benton
President Pepperdine University
Alejandro Bermudez
Director, ACI-Prensa/Catholic News Agency
Ambassador Kenneth Blackwell
Former U.S. Representative, United Nations Human Rights Commission
L. Brent Bozell III
Founder and President, Media Research Center
Vernon Brewer
President and CEO, World Help
Mark Burnett
Hollywood Producer
Christine Caine
Director, Equip & Empower Ministries
Most Rev. Oscar Cantú
Bishop of Las Cruces, Chairman, Committee on International Justice and Peace, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, OFM, Cap.
Archbishop of Philadelphia
Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan
Prelate, Armenian Apostolic Church of America (Eastern Prelacy)
Prof. Robert A. Destro
Professor of Law & Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Law & Religion, Columbus School of Law
Cardinal Timothy Dolan
Archbishop of New York, Chairman of Catholic Near East Welfare Association
Roma Downey
Hollywood Producer
Prof. Thomas Farr
Director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkeley Center, Georgetown University
Steve Forbes
Chairman & Editor in Chief, Forbes Media
Jack Fowler
Publisher, National Review
Prof. Robert P. George
McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University, Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard University
Amb. Mary Ann Glendon
Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University
Most Rev. Jose H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles
Os Guinness
Author, The Global Public Square
Jenny Guinness
Dr. Joel C. Hunter
Senior Pastor, Northland, A Church Distributed
Clint Hurdle
Manager, Pittsburgh Pirates
Dr. Sargoun Issa
Vice President, Restore Ninevah Now Foundation
Most Rev. Sarhad Jammo
Bishop of St. Peter the Apostle of San Diego (Chaldean)
Prof. Philip Jenkins
Distinguished Professor of History, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University
Hon. John Kasich
Governor, State of Ohio
Rev. Benedict Kiely
http://www.nasarean.org
Most Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz
Archbishop of Louisville, President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Katrina Lantos Swett
President, Lantos Foundation
David Lazar
Chairman, American Mesopotamian Organization
Tim Leary
Former Major League Baseball Player, Los Angeles Dodgers
Wendy E. Long
Attorney
Most Rev. William E. Lori
Archbishop of Baltimore
Kathryn Jean Lopez
National Review Institute
Most Rev. Gregory Mansour
Bishop of St. Maron of Brooklyn (Maronite)
Prof. Daniel Mark
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Villanova University
George J. Marlin
Chairman of the Board, Aid to the Church in Need-USA
Paul Marshall
Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
Faith J. H. McDonnell
Director, Religious Liberty Program, Institute on Religion Democracy
Eric Metaxas
Author, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
Darrell Miller
Former Major League Baseball Player, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Johnnie Moore
Author, DEFYING ISIS
President, The KAIROS Company
Trustee, World Evangelical Alliance
Russell D. Moore
President, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Southern Baptist Convention
William P. Mumma
President, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Most Rev. William Murphy
Bishop of Rockville Centre
Rev. Eugene F. Rivers
Azusa Christian Community
Dr. Jacqueline Rivers
Executive Director, Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies
Rev. Dr. Samuel Rodriquez
President, NHCLC/CONELA, Hispanic Evangelical Association
Alan E. Sears
President, CEO, & General Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Nina Shea
Director, Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom
Prof. Greg Stanton
President, Genocide Watch
Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe
Chairman, Christian Media Corp Int., Former Secretary General, World Evangelical Alliance
Michael P. Warsaw
Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer, EWTN Global Catholic Network
George Weigel
Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Ken Weinstein
President & CEO, Hudson Institute
Ashur Yoseph
President, Assyrian Aid Society of America
Michael Yousseff, Ph. D.
International Broadcaster
Ravi Zacharias
Founder and President, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries
Most Rev. A. Elias Zaidan
Bishop of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles (Maronite)