Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Obama Admin ALREADY Discriminates Against Syrians -- if They're Christians
PJ Media ^ | August 1, 2016 | Patrick Poole

Posted on 08/01/2016 5:52:34 PM PDT by Kaslin

Hundreds of Assyrian families, some of them recently arrived from Islamic State

controlled areas of Syria, attend Easter Sunday service at St. Georges Assyrian Church of

he East in Sed El Baouchrieh, a working class suburb of Beirut.

Non-Muslim Syrian refugees have been virtually locked out by the Obama administration, according to current data from the State Department.

According to the Refugee Processing Center, of the 6,877 Syrian refugees that have arrived in 2016 through July 31st, 6,834 of those are identified as Sunni, Shia, or generic Muslim. Only 43 (0.7 percent of total) refugees admitted have been non-Muslim.

That 0.7 percent of refugees arriving this year represents a statistically insignificant fraction of the more than 2.6 million Catholic, Syriac, Assyrian, and Greek Orthodox Christians, as well as Yazidis, other religions, and atheists living in Syria.

Yet all of these groups are being targeted by Islamic extremists -- indeed, Secretary of State John Kerry himself has claimed these groups are facing a genocide.

Just yesterday, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he is opposed to any religious test for entering the United States:

A religious test for entering our country is not reflective of America's fundamental values. I reject it. pic.twitter.com/DdsYj2XoLS

— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) July 31, 2016

Despite Ryan's rejection, the State Department's own numbers reveal active discrimination targeting non-Muslim Syrian refugees.

According to The Gulf/2000 Project at Columbia University, the religious breakdown of the Syrian population 2008-2009 shows that 15.98 million are Sunnis (73 percent of the population) while 3.29 million are Shiites (14.7 percent of the population). Christians account for 2.04 million people, or 9.3 percent of the population, while other religions account for 590,000 people, or 2.7 percent of the population.

This past March, Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged at a State Department press conference that minority religious communities in Syria were being targeted for genocide:

My purpose here today is to assert in my judgment, (ISIS) is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians, and Shiite Muslims.

So why haven't we heard Speaker Ryan's outrage over active religious discrimination against non-Muslim minority Syrian refugees?

And why is Kerry overseeing the systematic religious discrimination of Syrian refugees in his own State Department?

I've witnessed this discrimination by the State Department against Mideast Christians first-hand. Two years ago, I was introduced to an Egyptian Coptic Christian man who had fled Egypt and made it to the U.S. after he was threatened by the Muslim Brotherhood following the July 2013 ouster of Mohamed Morsi. The introduction was made by my friend, Father Anthony Hanna of the St. Mary and St. Mina Coptic Church in Concord, California. In August 2013, he escorted me into Upper Egypt to survey the destruction of Egypt's churches and monasteries carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood.

This man's wife and children had been attacked in their village near Minya, where attacks against Christians continue to this day. They were in hiding with family members elsewhere in Egypt, and had hoped to visit their husband and father in the United States.

With the assistance of several members of Congress who had given the family members letters of support, the family applied to visas with the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

And yet, the State Department denied their visa requests.

I commonly hear of U.S. State Department denials of visa requests from Christians in Egypt. I commonly hear of these denials from Coptic Church authorities as well.

So when Democrats and Republicans alike virtue-signal that they would NEVER countenance religious discrimination for refugees, constituents and the media should remind them that this administration is ALREADY doing it.

The State Department is systematically discriminating against Christians and other religious minorities among the Syrian refugees looking to come to the United States. And despite the virtue-signaling from Ryan and others, they do nothing about it.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: christianpersecution; obamarefugees; refugeeresettlement; syriachristians

1 posted on 08/01/2016 5:52:34 PM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The State Department position is that to be a refugee, you have to be targeted by an official government entity.

Christians are targeted by ISIS and rebel militias, which are not official governments, therefore they do not qualify as refugees.

On the other hand, if you are a muslim who supports ISIS or the Syrian “rebels” (ie “Al Qaeda”), you are being targeted by the Syrian government and therefore you do qualify as a refugee.

So Christians, no. ISIS supporters, yes.


2 posted on 08/01/2016 6:01:15 PM PDT by marron
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

“They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”—Revelation 6:10


3 posted on 08/01/2016 6:09:06 PM PDT by avenir (I'm pessimistic about man, but I'm optimistic about GOD!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Our dishonest president likes to maintain he’s NOT a moslem, then persecutes Christians every chance he gets.


4 posted on 08/01/2016 6:19:33 PM PDT by Jack Hammer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ad Orientam; antonius; aposiopetic; arielguard; bad company; blinachka; bob808; Brad's Gramma; ...
Orthodox Ping!

Save Thy people, O Lord,
and bless Thine inheritance.
Grant victory to Thy Church over her enemies,
and protect Thy people by Thy Holy Cross!

5 posted on 08/01/2016 6:21:00 PM PDT by lightman (I'm nobody special...just a follower of the siren call of the Ison.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin; All

Prager U: The World’s Most Persecuted Minority: Christians
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytdMUddGe-U


6 posted on 08/01/2016 6:26:02 PM PDT by beaversmom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lightman

Oh, I knew that!!!!

They don’t like Serbian refugees too much, either!!!!


7 posted on 08/01/2016 6:33:37 PM PDT by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Would not be surprised if some end up being brought like in an underground railroad.


8 posted on 08/01/2016 6:50:07 PM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Honorary Serb

We should add “Serbian and Syrian Christian refugees” to the names read in the Paraklesis services.


9 posted on 08/01/2016 6:54:20 PM PDT by lightman (I'm nobody special...just a follower of the siren call of the Ison.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: avenir

And He will say to those on His left, “Depart from me, ...”


10 posted on 08/01/2016 7:51:38 PM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
We know what Obama is about.


11 posted on 08/01/2016 9:03:59 PM PDT by Ray76 (The evil effect of Obergefell is to deprive the people of rule of law & subject us to tyranny!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

If Trump does not win, we have to take this vile government down with our own hands.


12 posted on 08/01/2016 10:02:41 PM PDT by justa-hairyape (The user name is sarcastic. Although at times it may not appear that way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: beaversmom

bkmk


13 posted on 08/02/2016 12:15:54 AM PDT by AllAmericanGirl44 (If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

DHS Gives 8,000 Syrian Refugees Temporary Amnesty
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2016/08/01/dhs-gives-8000-syrian-refugees-temporary-amnesty-n2200850?


14 posted on 08/02/2016 7:01:44 AM PDT by GailA (If politicians won't keep their promises to the Military, they won't keep them to you!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson