ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION No. 147

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED MAY 1, 1997

By Assemblywoman FRISCIA, Assemblyman STEELE, Assemblywoman Weinberg and Assemblyman Zisa

An Assembly Resolution calling upon all New Jerseyans to make themselves aware of religious persecution throughout the world and to urge their representatives in the Congress of the United States and the President of the United States to take certain actions.

Whereas, The columnist A. M. Rosenthal of The New York Times has provided a valuable service to its readers with his column of February 11, 1997 in which he called attention to the persecution of Christians throughout the world, especially as highlighted by Nina Shea, director of the Puebla Program of Freedom House, in her book In the Lion's Den; and

Whereas, Ms. Shea notes that "Millions of American Christians pray in their churches each week, oblivious to the fact that Christians in many parts of the world suffer brutal torture, arrest, imprisonment and even death--their homes and communities laid waste--for no other reason than that they are Christians"; and

Whereas, Ms. Shea also notes that "The shocking untold story of our time is that more Christians have died this century simply for being Christians than in the first nineteen centuries after the birth of Christ" and that "They have been persecuted and martyred before an unknowing, indifferent world and a largely silent Christian community"; and

Whereas, According to Ms. Shea, "Eleven countries where Christians are currently enduring great religious persecution are China, Sudan, Pakistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Egypt, Nigerian, Cuba, Laos and Uzbekistan. . . "; and

Whereas, The persecutions include: a pogrom in the Sudan, where the Islamic militant government has bombed and burned Christian villages, taken Christian children as slaves, and tortured Christian worshipers and their priests; the prohibition in Saudi Arabia of any public expression of Christianity or any religion but Islam; the imprisonment in China of thousands of Roman Catholic and Protestant Chinese for holding worship, preaching, or distributing Bibles without permission; and

Whereas, There is the need for greater consciousness of these persecutions and greater efforts to fight not only this oppression of Christians but oppression of any religious group; now, therefore,

    Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    This House calls upon all New Jerseyans to make themselves aware of religious persecution throughout the world and to urge their representatives in the Congress of the United States and the President of the United States to adopt any legislation which strengthens the rights of religious refugees and applies economic pressures against the regimes responsible for such persecution.

STATEMENT

    This resolution notes the persecution of Christians occurring throughout the world and calls upon all New Jerseyans to make themselves aware of religious persecution throughout the world and to urge their representatives in the Congress of the United States and the President of the United States to adopt any legislation which strengthens the rights of religious refugees and applies economic pressures against the regimes responsible for such persecution.

Calls upon all New Jerseyans to make themselves aware of religious persecution throughout the world and to urge their representatives in the Congress and the President to take certain actions.