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Faith Freedom Diplomat 'Horrified' by ISIS Atrocities

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WASHINGTON -- China, Iran and Saudi Arabia are among the dozens of countries the State Department is calling out for deplorable or, at best, serious religious freedom abuses.

U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein recently spoke with CBN's Jennifer Wishon to explain how the United States is working to help religious minorities around the world.

American Christians are watching in horror as their brothers and sisters across the globe are beheaded, raped, and crucified by the Islamic State for refusing to convert to Islam.

As a result, the newly released State Department's International Religious Freedom report had much to document this year.

"Yazidis and Christians have borne the worst brunt of the persecution by ISIL and other violent religious extremists," the report reads. "Attacks on these communities are part of a systematic effort to erase their presence from the Middle East."

"We're horrified when we see these acts of violence," Ambassador Saperstein told CBN News.

"What is the biggest threat to religious liberty in the world right now?" Wishon asked Saperstein, who has been on the job for nearly a year

"Probably a growing mood of intolerance by more extremist expressions of religion often in countries where different religions had lived together for centuries with comity and some degree of cooperation and respect," Saperstein replied.

Where Christian and other minorities are fleeing for their lives, Saperstein says his office is working to help them, spending billions of dollars to maintain the displaced.

He's also dealing with other problems many may not have considered, like "transitional justice" for Iraqi Christians who fled from the Nineveh Plain, Mosul and other regions.

"If you think about it, you know, scores of thousands of Christians fled those areas in order to save the lives of their families," Saperstein noted. "Some of their neighbors took over their homes, took over their businesses.

"They're gonna go back; that has to be sorted out," he said. "There has to be a transitional justice system set up and the international community is working on that."

Some critics say the Obama administration could be doing much more to protect religious minorities, especially in places like the Middle East. But Saperstein disagreed with that assessment.

"The argument that you can do more or you can do much more is always a difficult one to assess. I mean, look at what our intervention has done here. We had the Yazidi community facing a literal genocide. That was the explicit intention, the express intention of ISIL," Saperstein told CBN News.

"There are certainly scores of Yazidis alive today and perhaps hundreds of thousands because the United States-led intervention," he added.

Meanwhile, some Iraqi Christians are now taking up arms to defend themselves.

"None of those local defense forces will be large enough to defend themselves against a powerful entity like ISIL, so we're urging that they be integrated with the Peshmerga and the Iraqi forces through some sort of National Guard structure," Saperstein said.

"Outside of the Middle East, what part of the world gives you the most heartburn?" Wishon asked.

"The truth is, no matter where you see religious oppression and deprivation of freedom and people being punished, imprisoned, tortured, harassed because they simply want to live out their faith in accordance with their conscience and worship God as they truly believe in their hearts, and we see that kind of oppression it breaks our hearts," Saperstein replied.

"Do you wake up some mornings and just think, 'There is so much that I need to get to today; there is so much that needs to be done to protect religious minorities?'" Wishon asked.

"That's absolutely true. Look, I come from a community that's been amongst the quintessential victims of religious oppression and discrimination and persecution over the centuries," replied Saperstein, who is a Jewish rabbi.

"I know what happens when good people stand by idly and silently while another group is being oppressed simply because of their religious identity, and to me personally that animates part of my response to protect Christians, protect minorities all across the globe, to protect any people who are being oppressed," he said.

As the religious freedom report points out, those responsible for the horrors seen daily are making the case better than anybody can.

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About The Author

Jennifer
Wishon

As Senior Washington Correspondent for CBN News, Jennifer covers the intersection of faith and politics - often producing longer format stories that dive deep into the most pressing issues facing Americans today. A 20-year veteran journalist, Jennifer has spent most of her career covering politics, most recently at the White House as CBN's chief White House Correspondent covering the Obama and Trump administrations. She's also covered Capitol Hill along with a slew of major national stories from the 2008 financial crisis to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and every election in between. Jennifer