Washington Post: Jews Urge Christians to Stand Up to Persecution, by Larry Witham, March 19, 1997

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Washington Post

MARCH 19, 1997

Larry Witham

Jews Urge Christians to Stand Up to Persecution
"Learn from our example," they urge

Pioneers of the 30-year effort to save Soviet Jewry urged Christians yesterday to use the lessons of the Jewish experience in defending their brethren being persecuted around the world.

"There was a sense that we, as the Jewish community, could no longer be passive," said Jess N. Hordes of the Anti-Defamation League, recalling the start of the movement that eventually saw the migration of 1.2 million Soviet Jews to freedom.

At a day long forum in the Capitol organized by the center for Jewish and Christian Values, Mr. Hordes was one of six Jewish leaders--including two U.S. senators--who recalled how American Jews struggled in helping Jews in the Soviet Union and elsewhere.

"Many of the lessons are transferable, in my view, to the issues before us today," Mr. Hordes said, referring to Christian persecution in Communist, Muslim and other closed societies.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Connecticut Democrat, noted that Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world today.

"We are only now becoming aware of the dimensions, the enormity, of the persecution....The campaign to save Soviet Jewry took place in a much larger context [of human rights]," he said, adding that support for Christians overseas could build a similar human rights movement today.

"The international persecution of Christians must stop, and Americans must lead the effort to stop it," said Lieberman, adding that he will mention the treatment of Chinese Christians to government officials he will meet in Bejing next week.

Sen. Arlen Specter, a luncheon speaker at the forum, described bipartisan legislation to be introduced in both houses soon.

A Senate bill, the Pennsylvanian Republican said, would require the White House have a special advisor on religious persecution and that different levels of sanctions be set up to punish U.S. international trading partners who violate human rights.

Rabbi David Saperstein, representative for Reform Judaism in Washington, said the key to the campaign for Soviet Jews was that "we spoke with a unified voice," an effort he described as an "extremely painful process."

But he said American Jews' ability to avoid arguing over what divided them led to a movement with "Free Soviet Jewry" signs in front of synagogues, concerts, letter writing, questions to local law makers, and a 250,000-member rally in Washington when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev arrived in 1987.

"I believe that any one of these strategies is replicable in churches across the country," Mr. Saperstein said. "This is a fight that needs to be fought."

He also said quiet diplomacy still has its place and warned that Christians should not combine efforts to proselytize with those to unite Jews, Christians and others in support of the persecution overseas.

A first step, he suggested, would be to have the Immigration and Naturalization Service amend its asylum guidelines so that persecuted Christians might immigrate. "Winning that victory would be a powerful symbol," Mr. Saperstein said.

The Jewish leaders told Christian groups that they must work at this issue over decades, not lose patience and keep their advocacy focused.

Among the nations often cited for Christian persecution are China, Vietnam, Laos, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt and Sudan. Mission experts such as David Barrett, editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia, estimate that about 160,000 Christians are killed by mobs or governments each year for their religious identity.

The forum yesterday capped a nearly two-year effort to raise the issue, beginning in 1995 with a Wall Street Journal essay by Michael Horowitz, a Jewish scholar and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. He called on the U.S. government to make human rights for Christians the lever for promoting human rights for all groups in foreign countries.

Meanwhile, Christian leaders have noted the difficulty in interesting American Christians in the overseas plights of fellow believers.

The Jewish leaders yesterday spoke of a similar reluctance but noted that the 1967 Six-Days War galvanized both American and Soviet Jews. Then in 1974, the Jackson-Vanik amendment made Jewish emigration a condition for aid to the Soviet Union.

Warren Eisenburg, director of the B'nai B'rith International Council, recalled how Soviet Foreign Minister Andre Gromyko found 1,500 peaceful demonstrators at the Soviet Embassy here on one visit.

"To a very large extent, the Soviets found the issue everywhere they went," he said, suggesting that a large Christian population could do likewise if it was interested. "It became an issue on everybody's lips."

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ORIGINALLY POSTED:  April  4, 1997