WASHINGTON (BP and local reports) – The Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) in Nashville and other evangelical Christian organizations on Aug. 17 urged U.S. President Joe Biden to fulfill a long-standing commitment to protect and resettle America’s Afghan allies as well as others at risk of persecution by the Taliban after the Muslim extremist group’s rapid conquest of the country.
The Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT) made the request in a letter to the president as the United States military struggled to get evacuation flights out of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital. The Taliban reportedly has already begun a campaign of retribution against Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the war, and about 10,000 Americans are believed to still be in country. U.S. President Joe Biden has pleaded with the Taliban for safe passage for the stranded Americans yet to be evacuated.
“Despite the deteriorating situation, it is of utmost moral urgency that the U.S. government keeps our commitment” to America’s Afghan allies, made often during the last 20 years and affirmed by Biden, the EIT leaders told the president.
“As Christians, we believe that each person is made with intrinsic value in the image of God, and we cannot treat any person’s life as expendable,” the letter said. “Our government has a particular obligation to those who are now facing threats upon their lives due to their service to the United States, and to go back on our commitment to them would be a moral failing with reverberating consequences for decades to come.”
The EIT leaders also said the United States should seek to protect others who may not qualify for Special Immigrant Visas but are likely to be persecuted by the Taliban, “including Christians and other religious minorities [and] women and girls who have pursued the opportunity for education.”
Southern Baptist Convention Ed Litton, senior pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Ala., said he is “heartbroken over the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan.”
“I urge Southern Baptists to continue to pray fervently for our brothers and sisters who are in grave danger at this time,” Litton said in written comments released Aug. 17. “We must also pray for all those who are suffering or living in fear as a result of this political and humanitarian crisis.”
Daniel Patterson, ERLC’s acting president, signed the letter. Joining him were:
— Scott Arbeiter, World Relief.
— Walter Kim, National Association of Evangelicals.
— Gabriel Salguero, National Latino Evangelical Coalition.
— Shirley Hoogstra, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
— Chris Palusky, Bethany Christian Services.
— Hyepin Im, Faith and Community Empowerment.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a U.S. bipartisan panel of nine members that monitors religious freedom around the world, “is gravely concerned for ALL Afghan citizens, including religious minorities such as the Shia (including Ismailis) who have faced persecution at the hands of the Taliban in the past,” said Nadine Maenza, chair of the commission, in a written statement Aug. 17.
“The imposition of the Taliban’s harsh and strict interpretation of Islam in the areas that they have taken over violates the freedom of religion or belief of Afghans who do not share these beliefs,” she said.
Taliban members are militant Sunni Muslims, while Ismailis make up a branch of Shiite Islam.The Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam are known for their centuries-old animosity toward each other.
Mindy Belz, senior editor of WORLD Magazine who has covered the conflict in Afghanistan, reported Aug. 13 on Twitter the Taliban had sent letters to house church leaders in the country with the warning “they know where they are and what they are doing.” In an Aug. 15 post, Belzsaid the house church leaders “want to stay but it is hard to see how they will survive.”
