Persecuted church support ministry Release International has called on re-elected UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to keep a pledge to “make the protection of religious freedom at the very heart of UK foreign policy”.
Paul Robinson, CEO of Release, congratulated the Prime Minister on his renewed mandate and urged him to keep a promise – made by the previous Conservative Government following a report on persecution compiled by Philip Mounstephen, Bishop of Truro – to protect Christians from growing persecution through linking trade and aid with religious freedom.
“Amid the election jubilation and the flurry to deliver Brexit, Release urges the new Conservative government to remember its promises to the persecuted,” he said.
“We are immensely grateful that the UK Government has declared the world will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to discrimination against Christians. The government’s decision to put the plight of persecuted Christians front and centre of foreign policy will send a vital message to governments everywhere that the violence has to stop.”
Robinson highlighted four countries of growing concern with regard to violence against Christians.
“In Nigeria, thousands of Christian villagers are being slaughtered by militants opposed to the Christian faith,” said Robinson. “In China churches are being closed and their leaders arrested and detained; in North Korea Christians are treated as political prisoners, and in Pakistan they are falsely accused under blasphemy laws. The recent case of Asia Bibi is just one example. Around the world a growing number of Christians are imprisoned for their faith.”
