February 20, 2020
Hon. Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
Save the Persecuted Christians salutes you on your administration’s historic and groundbreaking defense of those persecuted for their faith at home and abroad. As you observed at the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this month, no administration has done more to protect religious liberty.
We are gratified by the attention you are properly, increasingly giving to the global and growing scourge of persecution of Christians – in some cases, on a genocidal scale. There are ample grounds for both rhetorical responses to this outrage and action: According to a 2019 report by the Bishop of Truro at the request of the British government, fully eighty percent of those harmed for their beliefs are Christian. Aid to the Church in need estimates that 327 million Christians face persecution – a number roughly equivalent to the population of the United States. And, according to Open Doors USA, 260 million of those are being heavily persecuted with an average of eight Christians killed every day simply for following Jesus.
It is against this backdrop that we write to you in connection with your impending trip to India, a nation in which Christians are being subjected to a rising tide of violence and discrimination. During the premiership of Narendra Modi, his country has moved inexorably up the Open Doors World Watch List of the 50 countries in which it is most dangerous to be a Christian. Believers are routinely subjected to mob violence, lynchings, church closings, discrimination. And those responsible usually go unpunished. As a result, India is ranked today as the 10th worst nation in the world to be a Christian.
To cite but one example: India continues to detain and mistreat U.S. Pastor Bryan Nerren, a native of Tennessee. Thank you for expressing your concern for him. We pray that you will bring him home on Air Force One.
Save the Persecuted Christians urges you to take two other actions, one symbolic, the other practical: First, we request that you accept an invitation we understand you have received to meet during your trip with Indian Christian clerics. By so doing, you will help protect those courageous faith leaders long after you leave their country.
Secondly, we respectfully ask that you impress an important point upon Prime Minister Modi it will be impossible to enjoy the necessary and enduring public support in America that you both seek if Christians continue to be subjected to intense, often violent and unindicted, persecution in India.
Sincerely,
Frank J. Gaffney
Frank J. Gaffney, President & CEO
Save the Persecuted Christians
1032 15th St NW, Ste 245
Washington, DC 20005