WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump called upon the nations of the world to end religious persecution on Tuesday.
“Because there is so much religious persecution in the world it also hurts all the other human rights,” said Sam Brownback, US Ambassador At Large for Religious Freedom.
In the Oval Office, President Trump signed an executive order that appropriates $50 million for programs that advance international religious freedom around the world.
“I think it can be massive, but part of my modeling in this program is wanted to have religious freedom be like the human trafficking issue,” Brownback said. “It would be one that embraces everybody and it goes grassroots.”
Under the order, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will develop country-specific action plans for prioritizing religious freedom.
To top that, all personnel assigned to positions overseas will now receive international religious freedom training.
“It makes international religious freedom a whole of government approach on our basic foreign policy apparatus,” Brownback said.
The executive order comes as Christian persecution and anti-Semitism are on the rise around the world.
North Korea, Afghanistan, and Somalia top the list as the most dangerous countries in the world for Christians, according to Open Doors USA’s 2020 World Watch List.
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