Save the Persecuted Christians and Nations in Action Plan Nationwide Religious Freedom Rallies July 10
In 15 Major Cities Across America, Rallies Will Highlight Religious Persecution Nearing Genocidal Proportions and Continuing Unchecked
WASHINGTON—Around the globe, millions of individuals are being persecuted simply because of their faith. They are being tortured, enslaved, raped, crucified, driven from their homes and murdered in the most horrific ways imaginable. The majority of the persecuted are children, with girls and women being among those most violated.
These atrocities drive the mission of Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC, www.SavethePersecutedChristians.org), which advocates for hundreds of millions of persecuted Christians worldwide, along with partner organizations who also work tirelessly so believers can pray, worship and witness freely and without fear.
Therefore, on Wednesday, July 10, STPC and Nations in Action are organizing more than a dozen Religious Freedom Rallies nationwide to bring attention to the sufferings of brothers and sisters in Christ globally.
“This crisis, which is nearing genocidal proportions, is being widely ignored and has been allowed to continue unchecked,” said Dede Laugesen, executive director of Save the Persecuted Christians. “We say NO MORE! It’s time to call out the persecutors—and their enablers—hold them accountable and secure significant penalties on state and non-state offenders as well as those who enable them. We pray thousands of Americans will join us on July 10 at the nationwide Religious Freedom Rally and stand for religious freedom.”
Rallies are planned for Atlanta, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, Tampa, Tysons (Va.), Washington, D.C., and West Palm Beach (Fla.)
Participants may rally in two ways on July 10:
- Rally In-Person. Attend the rally in-person in one of the 15 cities, bring a sign, and take a stand to end worldwide religious persecution while hearing from experts and leaders. RSVP by city here.
- Rally Online. Create awareness on social media by sharing and re-tweeting posts using the hashtag #Free2Pray, as well as call into local talk radio shows and write letters to the editor to highlight global Christian persecution. Sign up online here.
Learn more about the nationwide events at ReligiousFreedomRally.org, where Christian persecution photos and news as well as downloadable resources for the rallies are available, or visit twitter.com/freedom_rally or facebook.com/religiousfreedomrally.
Save the Persecuted Christians seeks to bring awareness about targeted Christians through the “The People of the Cross” exhibit, a series of vertical traveling banners that details Christian persecution in various countries around the world.
The exhibit’s banners feature images, facts and quotes from recent news stories about the persecution of Christians in multiple countries, such as China, where Communists are increasingly hostile to people of faith and churches are demolished; North Korea, where Christians are tortured or worse; Syria, where Christian girls and women have been sold into sex slavery; and Nigeria and East Africa, where terrorists are exterminating Christians with genocidal intent. A majority of the countries highlighted in the banners are high on Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List.
“The People of the Cross” exhibit is available for churches, public venues and special events. To learn more about hosting “The People of the Cross,” contact Save the Persecuted Christians or visit the website, where panels are available to view online.
The mission of Save the Persecuted Christians is to save lives and save souls by holding the persecutors accountable and creating costs for their crimes against humanity. To that end, it will disseminate actionable information about the magnitude of such crimes and bring to bear a movement of concerned Americans determined to hold persecutors accountable for such crimes and create real costs for perpetrating them against those who follow Jesus.
According to Aid to the Church in Need, which released its biannual report on Religious Freedom in the World in November, over 300 million Christians experience persecution. According to Open Doors USA World Watch List, 245 million Christians are victims of high to extreme levels of persecution (i.e., torture, rape, sex-slavery, expulsion, murder and genocide), an increase of 14 percent over 2018. Open Doors also estimates 1 in 9 of the world’s Christians experience persecution and that every month: 345 Christians are killed, often in public and without regard to gender or age; 219 Christians are abducted and imprisoned indefinitely without trial; and 106 churches are demolished.
Because most of these crimes are not covered in the media, Save the Persecuted Christians developed a dedicated news aggregator—www.ChristianPersecutionNews.com—to capture current instances of persecution and to provide readers an easy way to share these heartbreaking stories with others.
With so much of the world’s Christian population being attacked, imprisoned and/or exiled for their beliefs, the need has never been greater for the sort of grassroots campaign STPC’s SaveUs Movement is working to foster. Its efforts are modeled after a miraculously successful one that helped free another population suffering from heavy persecution—Soviet Jews—by penalizing those in the Kremlin responsible for such repression. Through this movement, Save the Persecuted Christians endeavors to provide American policymakers with the popular support they need to effect real change worldwide and alleviate systemically the suffering being experienced by so many of those following Christ.
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