***STATEMENT***
August 29, 2019 | For Immediate Release
Group Also Calls on Law Firm Squire Patton Boggs to Cease Representation of Cameroon and Others That Commit Atrocious Religious Liberty Violations
WASHINGTON—The Christian Post reported a gruesome and heart-breaking atrocity yesterday—that a Wycliffe Bible translator was murdered with a machete in Cameroon over the weekend.
“Angus Abraham Fung was among seven people said to have been killed during an attack carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen sometime during the early hours of Sunday morning in the town of Wum,” the Christian media outlet reported. The attackers stormed homes under the dark of night, and Fung’s wife, Eveline, was also attacked severely, having her arm severed completely.
For many months, Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC), which advocates on behalf of hundreds of millions of persecuted Christians worldwide, says the tragedy is further evidence that a U.S. special envoy to Nigeria and the Lake Chad region, which includes nearby Cameroon, is desperately needed.
Since May, Save the Persecuted Christians has also implored the prominent law firm Squire Patton Boggs, which lobbies on behalf of the People’s Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Cameroon and the Palestinian Authority—all regimes or entities that are state-sponsors of persecution—to cease such representation. Read more here.
“We are saddened by the news of Mr. Fung’s death and the maiming of his wife in what appears to be Fulani violence spurred on by the government of Cameroon,” said Dede Laugesen, executive director of Save the Persecuted Christians. “Fulani terrorist activity is rising in all the countries bordering Lake Chad, and news of the government arming the Fulani is deeply concerning. This is why the Trump administration must move quickly to appoint a special envoy for Nigeria and the Lake Chad region and why we are so insistent that Squire Patton Boggs, an American law and lobby firm, end its representation of the Cameroon regime.”
Earlier this year, Save the Persecuted Christians advisory board members and former members of the House of Representatives, Republican Frank Wolf and Democrat Tony Hall, authored an editorial that lays out the need for an envoy to help stave off further, destabilizing violence against Christians in those neighboring nations.
The mission of Save the Persecuted Christians is to save lives and save souls by disseminating actionable information about the magnitude of the persecution taking place globally and by mobilizing concerned Americans for the purpose of disincentivizing further attacks on those who follow Jesus.
Save the Persecuted Christians works to educate about persecution around the world through its exhibit titled “The People of the Cross,” a series of vertical traveling banners that feature images, facts and quotes from recent news stories about the persecution of Christians in multiple countries, such as China, where Communists are increasingly hostile to people of faith and churches are demolished; Saudi Arabia, where Christianity is prohibited and Christian communities and sacred sites have been cleansed; Pakistan, where blasphemy is enforced and is a capital offense under Sharia law; and Nigeria, the Sahel and East Africa, where terrorists are exterminating Christians with genocidal intent. A majority of the countries highlighted in the banners are high on Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List.
“The People of the Cross” exhibit has toured the United States, reaching an audience of at least 50,000, and is available for churches, public venues and special events. A new traveling exhibit, “Warfare on Women,” detailing the stories of women targeted for terror because they believe in Jesus, premiered as a side-event to this year’s U.S. Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. One banner spotlights the Fulani terrorists’ proclivity to maim women by cutting off their arms and fingers but leaving them alive to further terrorize communities. To learn more about hosting a traveling exhibit contact Save the Persecuted Christians or visit the website, where panels are available to view online.
According to Aid to the Church in Need and its biannual report on Religious Freedom in the World, over 300 million Christians experience persecution. According to Open Doors USA World Watch List, 245 million Christians are victims of high to extreme levels of persecution (i.e., torture, rape, sex-slavery, expulsion, murder and genocide), an increase of 14 percent over 2018. Open Doors also estimates 1 in 9 of the world’s Christians experience persecution and that every month: 345 Christians are killed, often in public and without regard to gender or age; 219 Christians are abducted and imprisoned indefinitely without trial; and 106 churches are demolished. Women and children are most vulnerable and represent at least 60 percent of those persecuted.
Because most of these crimes are not covered in the media, Save the Persecuted Christians has developed a dedicated news aggregator—www.ChristianPersecutionNews.com—to capture current instances of persecution and to provide readers with an easy way to share these heartbreaking stories with others.
With so much of the world’s Christian population being attacked, imprisoned and/or exiled for their beliefs, including ministry workers in Cameroon, the need has never been greater for the sort of grassroots campaign STPC’s SaveUs Movement is working to foster. Its efforts are modeled after a miraculously successful one that helped free another population suffering from heavy persecution—Soviet Jews—by penalizing those in the Kremlin responsible for such repression. Through this movement, Save the Persecuted Christians endeavors to provide American policymakers with the popular support they need to effect real change worldwide and alleviate systemically the suffering being experienced by so many of those following Christ.
###
To interview a Save the Persecuted Christians representative, contact Media@HamiltonStrategies.com
