Multifaith letter urges Emergency Protection and Evacuation of Afghan Religious Minorities

WASHINGTON, DC, USA, September 8, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Deep fear and anxiety about the future are gripping members of minority faith groups in Afghanistan as governments pulled out of Kabul. Videos have captured women handing babies and small children to soldiers over barbed wire at the Kabul Airport vividly illustrating the panic sweeping the nation – especially in those of minority religious beliefs.

While governments around the world continue their work to place Afghan refugees in new homes, the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Roundtable in Washington, DC, urged President Joe Biden in a multi-faith letter to adopt specific steps to assist non-governmental organizations in the continued evacuation and safeguarding of vulnerable religious minorities: Shia Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Hindus, Baha’is, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and others who are in danger under the country’s new rule.

According to the multifaith letter Christians and others seeking refuge at Kabul Airport have been murdered, whipped, had their ID documents seized, and their cell phones destroyed. They are being identified via government records and hunted down in door-to-door searches. They are receiving officially stamped “threat letters” warning that they have been identified for arrest or worse. Property is being stolen. Women are being seized, raped (“married” in the eyes of Taliban thugs), or killed, and men are being summarily executed or tortured.

The letter continues: The Taliban seeks to impose a hegemonic and absolutistic interpretation of Islam in which religious minorities and non-compliant majority group members must be subjugated or eliminated. The Organization for Islamic Cooperation has called on the Taliban to adhere to “international governing norms enshrined in the UN Charter and resolutions” and to follow “tolerant Islamic principles and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),” which includes the right to freedom of religion and belief.

US based non-governmental organizations (NGOs), many of them participants of the IRF Roundtable, and others are amassing funds and capabilities to evacuate religious minorities and women to safe havens.

The Church of Scientology National Affairs Office, one of the many IRF Roundtable participants, joined in signing the multifaith letter to President Biden along with other advocates from national and international organizations including: World Evangelical Alliance, Institute for Global Engagement, Law and Liberty Trust, Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice, United Sikhs, ADL, Reformed Episcopal Church, Free Yezidi Foundation, 21 Wilberforce Global Freedom Center, Boat People SOS (BPSOS), Hindus for Human Rights, International Christian Concern, and the Religious Freedom Institute.

The letter highlights the diversity of the signers saying that they are an informal participant-led, multi-religious group that advocates for international religious freedom. Despite their extremely broad diversity of theological views and political positions, they are united in speaking out against the horror of the unfolding events in Afghanistan following the US troop withdrawal and the swift Taliban takeover.

The letter asks the Biden Administration to adopt several specific steps to help bring pressure upon the new Taliban authorities to respect the lives and various beliefs of religious minorities left behind. Only time will tell the success of the pleas and cries from religious liberty advocates and others to save the lives of those minorities left behind.

Rev. Susan Taylor of the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office in Washington, DC, an active member of the IRF Roundtable for over 10 years, noted that “There will be no lasting peace until all faiths, majority and minority alike, are respected by all peoples, all the time.”

The Church of Scientology has since its inception stood for freedom of religion and human rights for all as stated in its creed written by L. Ron Hubbard in 1954. The Church also supports educational programs such as the Youth for Human Rights International which teaches the 30 articles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights stressing the importance of religious freedom, no slavery and freedom from torture.

The IRF Roundtable, organized in 2010, has become the premier platform in Washington, DC, for practical policy discussions and coordination between civil society, government, and multilateral organizations. It has attracted representatives from some 300 organizations and launched more than 200 multifaith initiatives. These initiatives have been deployed by and for people from across the theological and political spectrum. The Roundtable meets weekly and works closely with government offices including the US State Department’s International Religious Freedom Office and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

References:
International Religious Freedom Roundtable Washington, DC: www.IRFRoundtable.org
IRF Roundtable Letter to President Biden:
http://www.lawandlibertytrust.org/images/2021_9-1_Letter_to_President_Biden_Final.pdf

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Creed of the Church of Scientology: https://www.scientology.org/what-is-scientology/the-scientology-creeds-and-codes/the-creed-of-the-church.html

Youth for Human Rights International: www.youthforhumanrights.org

Church of Scientology: www.scientologyreligion.org

Rev. Susan Taylor
National Affairs Office
+1 202-667-6404
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