Christian Freedom International Challenges Obama’s Silence on Christian Persecution in His Address to Muslim World

Source: Christian Freedom International

Christian Freedom International (CFI), a humanitarian organization that assists persecuted Christians around the world, is dismayed about President Barack Obama’s failure to address the monumental crisis of Christian persecution in Muslim-majority nations during a speech he gave earlier today in Cairo, Egypt.“We’re very disappointed in what he said...and more so about what he didn’t say,” says CFI president Jim Jacobson.In his speech, Obama promised the Muslim world a new relationship with the United States based on mutual interest and respect, although CFI questions why the President did not place a stronger demand on Muslims to reciprocate the effort. “According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, 17 of the 27 countries targeted for religious persecution contains a Muslim majority – including Egypt,” says Jacobson. “President Obama has said that the West has been perceived by Muslims to be hostile to the traditions of Islam, but the fact is that no Christian majority society anywhere today oppresses Muslims.”Jacobson has cited other omissions of religious persecution in Obama’s speech, saying that while the President claimed that “Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance,” there is no freedom in Muslim-majority countries for Christians to freely practice their own religion, attend publicly funded universities such as Al-Azhar, or even freedom to wear clothing other than Islam’s traditional head scarves and burqas.“At the conclusion of his remarks, Obama stated that ‘there’s one rule that lies at the heart of every religion – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us,’” says Jacobson. “These words are clearly from Matthew 7:12 in the Bible, however, not every religion has the words of Jesus Christ at its heart. The truth of the matter is that Muslim nations must reciprocate that mutual interest and respect that President Obama speaks of…and that means treating Christians the same way Islamic governments demand that Western nations treat Muslims.”