On radio this morning, Glenn welcomed Ralph Reed of the Faith & Freedom Coalition to the program to discuss the growing war on faith worldwide. The Faith & Freedom Coalition has launched a campaign entitled “Demand Religious Freedom,” which seeks to shed light on the persecution of Christians and Jews in the Middle East and elsewhere and to demand action from the Obama Administration.
Throughout his presidency, Obama has not been particularly vocal or vigilant in advocating for religious freedom, so Glenn asked Reed why his group has chosen to bring forth this campaign and petition at this point in time. As Reed described, the rise of radical Islam throughout the Middle East has put Jews and Christians in the region in particular danger.
“There is a war against faith that is raging around the world, particularly and most violently in the Middle East, where you now have a safe sanctuary for a uniquely violent, vicious, and psychotic form of Islam under the leadership of ISIS that stretches from the banks of the Euphrates outside of Damascus to the banks of the Tigris outside of Baghdad,” Reed explained. “And they are driving tens of thousands of Christians out of Mosul, giving them the option of either to convert, live under subjection of radical Islam, or be murdered.”
The Faith & Freedom Coalition was recently in the news for its work to free Mariam Ibrahim from a Sudanese prison. Earlier this year, Ibrahim was sentenced to death by hanging for refusing to renounce her Christian faith, but she was ultimately freed in an unprecedented decision.
“We have not seen this kind of rampage against people of faith, this kind of persecution in centuries in the Middle East,” Reed said. “It's not anywhere else in the world. So what we've done we've launched – as we did on the Mariam Ibrahim case – we've launched a nationwide petition claim.”
“Our goal is to get over a million Americans to sign this petition to the White House, to the State Department, and to every member of the Senate of the House,” he continued, “demanding that religious freedom and protection of Christians and other persecuted religious minorities occupy the centerpiece of the conduct of our foreign policy.”
Ultimately, Reed believes the right leadership can once again make the United States the global leader and advocate for religious freedom. He hopes getting Americans to sign the Faith & Freedom Coalition petition will at least make the U.S. government aware of how the people fell.
“What it demonstrates, Glenn, is that leadership matters,” Reed concluded. “Nobody thought we would be able to get Mariam Ibrahim out of Sudan. That's one of the most brutal and inhuman places on the planet… We need to take that kind of moral action right now for our other brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering and who are in danger even as we speak this morning.”
You can sign the Demand Religious Action petition HERE.