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18 April 2019

DAVID ADAMS

Catholics and the Church of England have made a joint submission to an independent review of the UK's support for persecuted Christians around the world.

The review, which was launched earlier this year, is charged with examining the role the country's Foreign & Commonwealth Office plays in supporting suffering Christians and, according to its chair Philip Mounstephen, Bishop of Truro, offering "ambitious policy recommendations".

In a letter accompanying the submission, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Catholic Archbishop of Wesminster, and Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said while Christians form an important part of the social fabric in almost every country around the world, in many places "our Christian sisters and brothers face persecution of an intensity and extent unprecedented in many centuries".

They said the churches' submission is shaped by the voices of those they've met during trips to the Middle East who are suffering for their faith as well as their commitment to make the voices of those suffering heard.

"They have told us of having to flee their homes, being stripped of all they own and seeing family members killed," the two archbishops wrote, noting that threats to religious freedom or belief are not confined to Christians alone but are also a "widespread experience of the followers of other faiths" as well as "atheists and agnostics who seek to uphold crucial decisions of conscience".

"The UK has a great capacity to increase its support and protection for those who suffer violations of this most fundamental human right," the leaders wrote. "As we know from the cry of our own communities around the world, this action is needed now."

In their submission, the churches have called on the UK Government to focus on promoting freedom of religion or belief as a "fundamental human right, rather than limiting its attention to specific religious communities", to take a "joined-up approach" to freedom of religion or belief and issues like foreign aid, trade, and asylum policy, to make the Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief a dedicated post and not combined with other roles, and for greater diplomatic reporting about freedom of religion or belief.