Trump and Clinton campaigns address Christian persecution petitions
Representatives of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have met with people from several religious freedom advocacy groups this week to address the global persecution faced by Christians.
The meeting came after Open Doors USA started an online petition last August asking both candidates to disclose how they will respond to the increasing religious persecution around the world.
In a phone interview with The Christian Post, Open Doors USA president and CEO David Curry revealed that the meetings had been productive.
"The conversations were wide-ranging, and we were encouraged that both campaigns seem to be in broad support of strengthening international religious freedom," an Open Doors USA press release stated.
"We found both campaigns to be taking this issue — and our recommendations — seriously, particularly our emphasis that the new administration ensure highly qualified people are appointed as the U.S. Department of State Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom and the Special Envoy for Religion and Global Affairs within the first 100 days in office," it continued.
Curry said that one of the issues discussed was the plight of Christians and other religious minorities under terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq. He said that the representatives from both campaigns expressed their interest and asked numerous questions about the problems related to religious freedom.
The CEO of the advocacy group believes that the issue of religious freedom is a non-partisan issue that everyone could support.
"It's really about the freedom to believe, or perhaps even not believe in anything at all — that is the essence of religious freedom," he told The Christian Post.
He noted the success of the petition and the letters to both candidates. He urged people to continue signing the petition because it reveals to both Trump and Clinton that American Christians care "about their brothers and sisters in other parts of the world."
An earlier press release from Open Doors revealed that more than 7,000 Christians had been killed for their beliefs in 2015. Curry said that the figures for this year would not be available until a later date.
Open Doors USA announced that the annual International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church will be on Nov. 6.
