The persecution of Christians in communist and militant Islamic countries has risen in the past few years, and United States foreign policy is not strong enough effectively handle these situations. The worst of the countries, namely China, North Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, and Sudan, are named in this essay. They are guilty of such actions as government-condoned murder, slavery, torture, and imprisonment. Public awareness of these acts is low, and private groups actively involved in hostile territories go without the recognition or official mandate of the federal government. If the U.S. government could attend to both of these things and keep with its current policy of condemning religious persecution, then Christians in these countries stand a better chance of survival.

     Zhang Xiuju. The name is foreign to us as Americans, but this thirty-six-year-old woman was as alive as any Jane or Mary, and just as human. In May of 1996, she was forcefully taken from her home and beaten to death. The culprits were not part of an extremist group or under the influence of drugs, and they were not prosecuted by the authorities. They were policemen, acting with the mandate of the Chinese government. When Zhang Xiuju's body was returned to her family, they offered the equivalent of six hundred dollars to seal the secret of her death, and later claimed that she was killed while jumping from a car. What did she do that deserved death? Simple: she was an active and unregistered Christian. (Shea, 61).

    The first amendment to the Constitution guarantees, among other things, freedom of religion. This freedom is often taken for granted not only by the laymen of this country, but by the policymakers, who prefer the ease of international relations based solely on economic concerns. They do not have the liberty, however, of ignoring the evidence of massive human rights abuses in the world today. When life, liberty, or property is taken from an individual by reason of his or her religion, the United States has a moral obligation to act. This essay will endeavour to show the problem of the persecution of Christians and the role that the government should take in alieviating it.

     A Congress-requested report issued by the Human Rights Bureau in July of last year faulted some seventy countries for their discriminatory acts. (Jost, 1013). Nearly every part of the globe has its scapegoat-people, those easy-to-blame factionist leaders who contradict the ideals of the present regime. Christians in particular, with their refusal to recognize the state as having authority over religious matters, are ideal targets in Muslim and communist countries. The daily fear of repression based on governmental or uncontrollable vigilante hostility towards belief affects approximately 200 million Christians in the world today (Jost, 1011), and it has been said that more Christians have been martyred for their faith in this century than in all the years since the birth of Christ. (Shea, 1). In his statement to the House Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights, Martin Dannenfelser, Jr., Assistant to the President for Government Relations, admitted "Persecution of Christians seems to be the most widespread [of any religious persecution]." (170).

    The primary countries involved in severe Christian repression can be separated into two groups. The first group is made up of the communist countries which still exist in Asia: China and Vietnam, for example. The second includes Muslim countries with militant factions either in charge or powerfully placed, such as Sudan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

    When the Soviet Union collapsed, so did public concern over communism. The last two wars of the century had been offshoots of the communist threat. Where victory was expected, the Korean War had ended in a draw, and Vietnam was a disaster. So, as the first communist nation held direct influence as a catalyst, it was generally accepted that the other countries would soon fall after the leader. Americans were not willing to risk lives again to stop the "Red Menace"; it had already been driven back.

    Communism is still very much alive in the world, and with comes not just a form of economics, but a way of life. Top officials are required to be atheists, as Karl Marx saw religion as "the opium of the people." Thus, the systematic eradication of the religious. When the Soviet Union fell, it left a legacy of thousands of destroyed churches, synagogues, and mosques, and tens of thousands of dead, both the clergy and faithful. (Jost, 1018). To ignore this same mission of eradication on the part of other communist countries would be to misunderstand the very essence of communism. "When the Iron Curtain fell, people thought, 'Oh good, the Christians are free now.' But persecution is still very real," said Cambridge scholar Christopher Catherwood. (qtd. in Shea, 14).

    In Vietnam, propaganda begins at 3am, and ends no earlier than 11pm in rural provinces like Dong Ho and Quang Tri, where Christianity has the most influence. (HR, 19). Hostilities towards religious groups have reached new heights in recent years, putting into action hatred of the West which to them is symbolized by Christianity. Thus, the clause in the Vietnamese constitution stating that "no one can use religion as a means to drag in foreign powers" is used as a means of breaking up Christian organizations within the country. (qtd. State Dept., 49). Ending an extensive list of rights abuses, Tran Quy Thien, a Vietnamese Catholic priest, told the House Subcommittee on International Relations and Human Rights that, "The Communist Party of Vietnam...does not stop before any scheme, no matter how insidious, in order to destroy what it considers to be its main competitors as far as the allegiance of the people is concerned." (HR, 94). They do not really fear world retribution when it comes to the thousands of Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and other believers that live in fear of the government, for even the U.S. has softened towards the country. After the United States initiated economic incentives in the summer of 1995, Vietnamese officials seized and destroyed over 600 Christian books. In a country where there is one Bible for every 3,750 citizens, this is a lot of literature. "I was there when the event occurred," said Tom White, USA director for The Voice of the Martyrs, a humanitarian institution. "Vietnamese today travel from Hanoi to Saigon on hard wooden train seats, [and] just like the Siberians used to travel to Moscow looking for Bibles, they travel to Saigon." (HR, 99-100).

    North Korea is another communist country with active discrimination policies. Its practices are similar to those of Vietnam, and the U.S. State Department has condemned its self-serving nature: "The North Korean government continues to firmly discourage all organized religious activity except that which serves the interests of the State." Since the United States has no diplomatic relations with the country, however, the contradicting numbers of specific repressive practices reported by human rights organizations and the North Korean government are not verified. What is known is that there are only three churches in the country, one Catholic and two Protestant, all of them in Pyongyang. Foreigners have reported that the church activities appear staged, and that without prior arrangements, foreign Christians going to services have found the doors locked and the buildings unattended, even on Easter Sunday. (State Dept., 33).

    Now, to China. In 1994, Decrees 144 and 145 mandated registration of religious groups in China. (Jost, 1019). The Religious Affairs Bureau expanded to include the establishment of Chinese "churches". State-sanctioned religious worship is allowed. Why, then did only a fraction of some sixty million Christians register? Looking closely, one can see the reasons. All pastors are not allowed to preach outside of their native province, not allowed to speak about the second coming, and not allowed to baptize anyone younger than eighteen. (Heilbrunn, 23). These same priests have to take "political reliability" tests before becoming officially appointed (State Dept., 18), and have also testified against members of the underground church-- it is no wonder that the population distrusts them. Secondly, all Catholics must give up their allegiance to the Pope, a thing that most are not willing to do; all Christians in general must live with the fact that the church is not independent from the state-- this is unacceptable to them. (Heilbrunn, 23). In addition to this, some groups which have tried to register with the state have been turned down. (State Dept., 17). Thus, the illegal church is still very much alive in China today, with the home church movement alone at around 20 million. This is a major upset to the Chinese government, who have been able to eradicate both independent unions and underground printing presses. (Heilbrunn, 23). In fact, as New Republic writer Jacob Heilbrunn points out, "...decrees 144 and 145 [authorized] the Public Security Bureau to crush any religious organizations that refused to register with the state. Since then, the ubiquity of the oppression can hardly be exaggerated." (22). The police destroyed 15,000 religious sites in the Zhejiang province [alone] in 1996, according to a survey by The Far Eastern Economic Review. (Heilbrunn, 22). In Tibet, Chinese authorities destroyed 6,000 Mahayana Buddhist monasteries, and killed or imprisoned a great number of monks and nuns. ( Persecution of Christians, 1). At least 4,000 Catholics were forced to publicly recant in the Spring of '96. (Shea, 63). In November later that year, the Jiangxi province saw eighty Catholics beaten and jailed; in March of 1997, police arrested Protestant leader Peter Xu Yougze and sent him and three hundred other Protestants to Henan labour camps, where at least 40% of the prisoners are members of the illegal church. Tame camp "re-education" methods include starving and beating, binding of prisoners in extremely painful positions for long periods of time, hanging them from their lower limbs while using electric cattle prods and drills, and forcing relatives to watch while family members are tortured. Most petty of all, corrupt officials line their pockets with money from sales of the prisoners' furniture. (Heilbrunn, 22-23). There are more Christians in prison for religious belief in China than in any other nation. Around two hundred clergy have been accounted for by Freedom House, and the number of unordained prisoners is thought to run in the thousands. (Shea, 58). Decrees 144 and 145 are not the only excuses the Chinese government uses for Christian persecution, however: another major concern is the country's rigid population control laws. Catholics by doctrine are forbidden to use birth control, and, as a group, Christians abhor abortion as morally wrong. Yet conscience is not reason enough to prevent authorities from forcing abortions and serializations, along with imprisonment, torture, and fines, on the revolted populace. (Shea, 65).

    The countries that constitute the greatest Muslim population are in the Middle East and Africa. As with communism and the USSR, the militant Islamic takeover of Iran's government in 1979 was the role-model for other countries who wanted combine church and state and return to the Shari'a, a harsh Islamic law code. (Jost, 1023). Since then, many of these countries have proclaimed Islam their national religion, and Christians have become howagas, or "foreigners", who bear the brunt of Islamic hatred for the West, and specifically, the United States. (Daniszewski, A6; Shea, 5). "The fear is that proselytism [evangelizing] will result in a loss of Islamic identity and conversion into a Western way of thinking, of living, and of religious beliefs," says Abdullahi An-Na'im, professor at Emory University Law School. However, Christians in these countries are not of European decent, nor do they owe any allegiance to the West. They are indistinguishable, racially and ethnically, from the larger population. (Daniszewski, A6). Christianity, itself, was born in the Middle East, and traditional Islam allowed both Christians and Jews to worship in their lands, as long as they paid certain fines. Today, Christians can be arrested, lashed, or deported in Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally from the Gulf War. (Daniszewski, A6). There is no freedom of religion whatsoever in the country, and SS-like muttawas, or special police, search out, report, and harass anyone who displays "un-Islamic" behaviour, including foreigners. (State Dept., 43). Such blasphemy carries a mandatory death penalty in Pakistan (van der Vyver, vol 1, 342), where more than five hundred cases are currently waiting for "justice", and many prisoners mysteriously die before their day in court (Shea, 37-39). But police are not the only persecutors in this country. In May of 1994, the Muslims of the province of Khan Jajja were incited to rid themselves of the Christians in their area, and demolish the church from the "land of the pure." Consequently, sixty families endured the suffering of being forced from their homes, men beaten, women stripped and humiliated, girls kidnapped and raped, possessions looted, and church destroyed. "Restitution for them was out of the question," stated Nina Shea, director of the Puebla Program on Religious Freedom. (38). Such acts occur whenever the population is aroused, and this occurs often. Muslims who follow the militant faction believe that only they have human rights. The police of Pakistan traditionally agree with this, and almost always fail to take precautions or prosecute those who are actively involved in the persecution of Christians-- including cases of assault, rape, and murder. (State Dept., 40).

    In Egypt, popular militant extremists force Christians to pay "protection money" to keep from being killed. This is called the gizia, or "tax". (Daniszewski, A1). Another outrage reported by Christians in the country is the kidnapping of Christian teenage girls. They are forced to marry Muslim men and convert to Islam. Egyptian authorities do nothing to stop this. An example happened only a few years ago, when a girl was abducted on her way to church service. Her father later found her at a police station, where a young man insisted than she wanted to marry and convert. Both the girl and her father pleaded with authorities, but police would not surrender her. From screams heard when she was taken into another room, her father believes that she was raped and forced to marry. It is suspected than hundreds of incidents like this happen each year. (Daniszewski, A6). Muslim converts to Christianity are treated with open hostility by the Egyptian government, under the Emergency Powers Act of 1982. (Shea, 44-46). Muslim converts to Christianity can be charged with "[igniting] strife, [degrading] any of the heavenly religions, or [harming] national unity or social peace." (State Dept., 22). Punishment often includes surrendering the convert to his or her family, where it is common to be put under house arrest by relatives, beaten, and (in rare instances) killed when they refuse to recant. This, however, is not the worst of these countries. In Sudan, a nearly 20-year war (van der Vyver, vol 1, 404) against unrighteous religions has resulted in the loss of more than a million lives (State Dept., 45), and over 3 million "displacements". Some of these displacements occur when entire villages are relocated into "peace villages"-- the Christian ghetto. Government-sponsored "cultural cleansing" targets Sudanese Christians and animists who live in the southern part of the country. Men are killed, their wives and children sold into slavery, where wealthy Muslims and even foreigners can buy a servant or concubine. (Shea, 31-32 & State Dept., 45).

    Public awareness of Christian victimization is low, however. The Clinton Administration recently stated that China's primary threats to the world were through pollution and software piracy. Also, both the secular and religious media have, until recently, failed to adequately cover the problem. (Shea, 14 & 20). Even in the acknowledgment of it, though, comes hostility to the idea of action. In an interview with New York magazine, Kenneth Roth, the director of Human Rights Watch, called efforts to arouse awareness and sympathy for the plight of persecuted Christians "special pleadings [in] an effort to privilege certain classes of victims." This statement outraged Jacob Heilbrunn, a writer for The New Republic. "This seems a remarkable attitude for a human rights activist," he said, "since, by definition, all arguments on behalf of all persecuted groups...are 'special pleadings'." (23). An editorial in the Boston Globe flatly stated, "The Enlightenment idea of tolerance should extend to all victims of religious persecution, not just one branch of human spirituality." (1). And although this is certainly true as an ideal, one would not see the 'Globe harass the Holocaust Museum for focusing mainly on Jews, even though the German death camps took soldiers, Christian clergy and activists, and Poles, as well. Yes, Jews were the most widespread victims of Nazi persecution. But Christians in countries like China and Sudan are the main focus of hatred, so why cannot the United States public recognize and deal with the issue? Generally because it has been the United States' policy to ignore persecution of the majority. History writes Christians are the persecutors rather than the persecuted, and past grievances erase most claims of assistance. While the U.S. applauded the release of Wang Dan, the student leader of the Tiananmen Square uprsing (Dissident Released, A1), people like Bishop Zeng Jingmu, an elderly man who has had pneumonia since 1995, and has spent two decades in prison for his faith, are languishing behind Chinese bars. Our government does not speak for our rights abroad. Christmas is forbidden to be celebrated on the grounds of the American embassy in Saudi Arabia (Shea, 6), and while the Clinton administration is altering policy in order to allow political asylum for homosexuals and victims of spousal abuse, he has done nothing for victims of religious persecution. (Heilbrunn, 24).Four years have passed since the United States signed a worldwide document condemning torture, and yet only one man in all that time has been granted asylum: an Iraqi deserter. (Victim Gets Protection, 7A). The U.S. has refused sanctuary to Christians fleeing Iranian persecution. Those who reach Turkey are turned back, and of twenty clergymen who left Iran and pleaded for asylum, twenty were denied it. (Shea, 6). 58-year-old Michael Horowitz, a Jew who has almost single-handedly started the process of educating the public about the repression of Christians, angrily stated, "Immigration lawyers tell me that it's easier to pass a camel through the eye of a needle than to get an asylum claim satisfied for a Christian who has escaped persecution." (qtd. Shea, 5).

    Despite this resistance, though, actions have been taken. After hearing about the incidents of discrimination in communist and militant Islamic countries, the House and Senate both passed resolutions condemning the persecution of Christians. These resolutions, however, are non-binding and nothing concrete has been done by the government as of yet. There are many private groups bent on aid and increasing public awareness. Representatives from most of these groups were included in the hearing held by the House Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights. These groups were: The Voice of the Martyrs, Iranian Christians International, Christian Solidarity International, The Cardinal Kung Foundation, and many others. (Jost, 1014). Another conference was held at about the same time, with many of the same groups in attendance; however, they were addressing the Christian community instead of the government. From this hearing came the National Association of Evangelicals' Statement of Conscience, which was submitted to Congress in hopes of sparking some action. (Heilbrunn, 21). Many American churches now feel that something must be done-- that they have an obligation to protect the victimized Christians overseas. "Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter," the Biblical book of Proverbs commands. "If you say, 'Surely we did not know this,' does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?" (24: 11-12)

    If the U.S. as a country felt the weigh of these words, what would be the course of its actions? There are many suggestions to this end, from unilateral sanctions to simply making the public aware. One thing is certain, though: citizens have faith that the U.S. can make a difference. The Statement of Conscience makes this claim: "We know that the United States government has within its power and discretion the capacity to adopt policies that would be dramatically effective in curbing such reigns of terror and protecting the rights of all religious dissidents." (qtd. Shea, 98). A bill proposed and later pigeonholed in both houses of Congress last year, the Freedom from Religious Persecution Act of 1997, states that "governments have a primary responsibility to promote, encourage, and protect respect for the fundamental and internationally recognized freedom of religion." (Act of 1997, 1). At this point in time, however, it is perhaps best to keep governmental steps small. The practice of "non-legal" remedies, like education and dialogue, are the most important things a nation can do, outside of international collectivity (Tahzib, 483). Education is extremely important to this cause. The public must support an action in order for the government to effectively use it. Therefore, the first step should be to simply admit that "the persecution is real, and by all reports is getting worse." (Heilbrunn, 22). The mere attempt at passing the Freedom from Religious Persecution Act increased awareness tremendously. (Jost, 1027). The next step should come from the White House. The Clinton administration should give its official mandate to such private groups and individuals as are willing to act on behalf of the suffering-- a public, consequence-warning mandate. As of now, angered citizens who expected governmental action are taking matters into their own hands. (Heilbrunn, 24). This mandate would not only lower foreign hostility towards American activists, but would lower hostility between the federal government and its citizens. "A considerable amount of non-governmental organizations have developed special knowledge and expertise in regard to the international promotion of freedom of religion," stated Bahiyyih Tahzib in his book, Freedom of Religion or Belief. "[They] should be duly recognized." (484). These two steps, in combination with other world efforts, can effectively work until more drastic measures are decided on.

    The controversial action we as a nation could implement is sanctions. However, there is much debate regarding this issue. Once before, the U.S. has tried sanctions in order to force action on a religious issue. The year was 1974, and the country we were at odds with was the U.S.S.R. Congress passed the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which basically allowed emigration policies to have an effect on trade status. It forbade most-favoured-nation (MFN) trading status from the Soviet Union until they let up on their Jewish emigration restrictions. In this instance, the sanctions worked. The question is, will they work again?

    Frank D. Kittredge, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, says no. "Studies conducted by the Institute for International Economics have found that U.S. unilateral sanctions had 'positive' outcomes in fewer than 20% of the cases in the 1970's and 80's," he stated. (qtd. Jost, 1025). "Just as religious freedom offers the best hope for the Christian social influence," put forward Paulist priest Robert A. Sirico, "economic freedom is the best hope for spreading that influence around the world." (qtd. Heilbrunn, 22). So much for sanctions... or is it? There is a decided difference between unilateral sanctions and incomplete sanctions. Shea suggests, "In cases it may be best to bar foreign aid and multinational loans. In Haiti, the U.S. canceled the visas and froze the bank accounts of the elites; this might be appropriate, for example, to protest the beheading of Christians in Saudi Arabia." (qtd. Jost, 1025). Working through the United Nations is another option. (Jost, 1022). Whatever the specifics, it seems as if support for sanctions is actually growing. The United States' hope in getting revenue from the granting of most-favoured-nation trading status to China seems to be ill-founded. The Chinese this year are neither "flooding the world with cheap imports" or buying many goods from us, this year. (Chandler, A1). Americans are wondering why we gave MFN to China if they are not giving anything back. A rotten deal will get citizens on edge more than anything else, and when it is reported that the persecution of Christians actually gets worse when China is doing well, financially (HR, 11), there ought to be a lot more support for a form of sanctions. This holds true in the Middle East, as well. According to Los Angeles Times columnist John Daniszewski, "Even today, some Mideast Christians argue that if it were not for the glut of oil money, the Islamist movement would whither." (A6).

    The U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees certain basic freedoms. Communist and militant Muslim countries have violated many of the articles of this internationally recognized document. Article 3 is broken. It pledges "life, liberty, and security of person" to everyone in the world. "Freedom from slavery or servitude in all forms" is the broken right of Article 4. Freedom from torture and equal protection-- Articles 5 and 7. The freedom of conscience is not allowed , yet this constitutes Article 18. Article 19's "freedoms of opinion and expression" are ignored, as is the "freedom of peaceful assembly...without compulsion." Article 20. (HR, 171). We cannot be weak in implementing our foreign policy. For every demand, the U.S. must be prepared to attach the necessary consequences. Sanctions are one of the only peaceful means our government can use to directly affect world affairs. It may, indeed, be necessary to enact them someday. Until then, however, we must rely on increasing awareness, and action from private humanitarian groups.

    The problem of religious persecution is as old as man. This essay does not presume that the policies advocated here will halt this injustice. The truth remains, however: people are being tortured and killed for their beliefs, worldwide. Christianity is the prime concern here because of their majority in world's religious population. Where Christians are persecuted, there is usually a large number of other religions that are undergoing the same repression. Thus, by concentrating on one aspect of persecution, we can both rid ourselves of the largest instances of combined religious discrimination, and at the same time increase overall awareness of religious persecution in general. This is the statement; this is the goal.

Associated Press. "Chinese Free Ailing Tiananmen Dissident." The Journal Gazette, Apr. 19, 1998.
 

Chandler, Clay. "Trade Deficit Up: $21.1 Billion Imbalance is New Record." The Journal Gazette, Apr. 18, 1998.
 

Daniszewski, John. "Christians Feel Under Siege in the Mideast." Los Angeles Times, Aug. 14, 1997.
 

Heilbrunn, Jacob. "Christian Rights." The New Republic, July 7, 1997, pp. 19-24.
 

Holy Bible, the: New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982.
 

"Irag Torture Victim Gets U.S. Protection." The Journal Gazette, Apr. 17, 1998.
 

"Persecution of the Spirit." Boston Globe, July 25, 1997, pg. A20.
 

Shea, Nina. In the Lion's Den: A Shocking Account of Persecution and Martyrdom of Christians Today and How We Should Respond. Broadman & Holman, 1997.
 

Tahzib, Bahiyyih G. Freedom of Religion or Belief: Ensuring Effective International Legal Protection. Netherlands: Kluwer Law International, 1996.
 

United States Information Agency, Democracy and Human Rights, East Asia and the Pacific. "Freedom from Religious Persecution Act of 1997." May 27, 1997.
 

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Affairs. "United States Policies in Support of Religious Freedom: Focus on Christians." July 22, 1997.
 

U.S. House of Representatives, International Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights. "Persecution of Christians Worldwide". Feb. 15, 1996.
 

Van der Vyver, Johan D., with John Witte, Jr., eds. Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Legal Perspectives & Religious Perspectives. 2 vols. Netherlands: Kluwer Law International, 1996.

Additional Information on the web:
Voice of the Martyrs
Int'l Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

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