Pregnant students are sometimes discriminated against by their schools, either intentionally or unintentionally and there is a concerning lack of awareness about the resources and rights available to them. Due to a lack of services and discrimination, these women may...
Currently, intelligence community civilians are subject to certain tax penalties for job-related relocation requirements, but active-duty military servicemembers are not subjected to the same penalties. These tax benefits, including the ability to deduct moving...
Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Marco Rubio (R-FL) delivered opening remarks and questioned witnesses at a hearing on countering China’s influence in the United States. Watch Rubio’s opening remarks here as well as Part I and Part II of...
Approximately 302,000 Americans live with spinal cord injuries. To help these people achieve a better quality of life, there is a need to increase education and invest in research. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) successfully led a bipartisan...
Foreign investment is one of the legal means that adversaries, like China, can use to collect Americans’ data, exasperating both privacy and national security risks. To counter this, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) reintroduced the...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Special Report with Bret Baier to discuss the impending government shutdown, the possibility of a Saudi-Israeli normalization deal, and the indictment of Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ). See below for highlights and watch the full...
This week’s release of the State Department’s 2012 International Religious Freedom Report reminds us how blessed Americans are to live in a place where we can freely and openly practice our religion of choice without fear of persecution. It’s a fundamental human right that many of our ancestors did not have before they came to America. With this great blessing comes great responsibility to help ensure that others around the world can freely exercise their religious freedom as well.
Unfortunately, in the 21st century, there are governments that are complicit in religious repression by enforcing oppressive laws against religious minorities or standing idly by while minorities are persecuted by their fellow citizens for their beliefs. The State Department’s report highlights Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) that commit particularly severe violations of religious freedom. The CPCs that were last designated in August 2011 include: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan. In Cuba, the report highlights that the Communist Party continues to control and monitor the religious life of most Cubans. I would encourage the State Department to consider including Cuba as a Country of Particular Concern in the next round of designations.
In particular, I am concerned that the United States is not paying enough attention to the growing persecution of Christians in the Middle East. In countries, such as Syria and Iraq, the Syriac Christian community is under attack, with the entire existence of this ancient community at stake. In Egypt, the Copts have faced undue pressure and violence that the Morsi government has done little to prevent or punish. Although the report discusses incidents of persecution in these countries, it fails to recognize the trend of an increase of intolerance towards Christian minorities in this important region.
I agree with Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement that an attack on religious freedom is “both a moral and strategic national security concern for the United States.” That is why we need to redouble our efforts to serve as a beacon for religious freedom around the world by encouraging countries to implement policies that protect religious expression and worship. I look forward to the day when we will no longer have to produce this report and encourage the administration to make this goal a reality.