[DATE]

The Honorable Hillary R. Clinton

Secretary of State for the United States of America

The Department of State

2201 C St., NW

Washington, D.C. 20520

Dear Madame Secretary,

                    Congressman Frank R. Wolf (R-VA) has introduced a bi-partisan bill (HR 440) in Congress that calls on you to appoint a Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia. The Envoy would ensure greater focus on the part of the U.S. government to addressing threats facing the dwindling indigenous religious communities in places like Egypt and Iraq.  As you know, Coptic Christians in Egypt and Assyrian Christians and Mandaeans in Iraq have existed there since the first few centuries following the time of Christ.  Yet they have faced serious attacks on their communities in the past few months which have caused great concern over their future survival in the Middle East.  Therefore, we write to respectfully urge you to appoint an Envoy and do all you can to encourage these governments to respect religious freedom for all people.

                    As you know, since the U.S. led war in Iraq, nearly one-third of the Christian community remain in the country.  The number of Mandaeans has decreased from 100,000 at the beginning of the war to only 5,000 now in the country.  These and other small religious communities have been threatened with death, kidnapped for ransom, attacked with bombs and murdered by terrorists.  Yet despite the fact that they were specifically targeted because of their religious beliefs and because they were defenseless, the United States has never had a policy to help them withstand this disproportionate targeting of their communities.

                    In Egypt, while demonstrators call for freedom and voice their discontent, it is hard to forget that only a month ago the Coptic Church faced one of the most violent attacks on its community.  The New Years’ Eve attack, like so many before, has been forgotten and the perpetrators never brought to justice.  Moreover government policies have prevented the Coptic Church from even repairing its buildings while Muslims are free to do so without permission, thereby treating the ancient Coptic Christians as inferior to other Egyptians and fomenting social intolerance against them.

Madame Secretary, we fear that without immediate action these ancient religious communities will disappear from the Middle East and the region will be deprived of the diversity of opinion, cultural heritage, professional skills, intelligence and wealth that are essential for social stability and strong democratic governance.  The result would be disastrous for freedom in the region.

I sincerely hope that you will appoint a Special Envoy and work to ensure that religious freedom is guaranteed for all people throughout the world.

                                                                                    Sincerely,