The Huffington Post UK | Posted: 15/11/2013 00:02 GMT | Updated: 15/11/2013 00:04 GMT
Christians face becoming "extinct" in large parts of the world, Baroness Warsi will warn on Friday.
In a speech at Georgetown University in Washington DC, the senior Foreign Office minister will call for unity in confronting the intolerance and sectarianism that leads to minority communities being persecuted around the world, including a "mass exodus" of Christians.
In an article for The Daily Telegraph previewing her speech, Baroness Warsi, Britain's most senior Muslim politician, said the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities is a "global crisis".
"There are parts of the world today where to be a Christian is to put your life in danger. From continent to continent, Christians are facing discrimination, ostracism, torture, even murder, simply for the faith they follow," she said.
"Christian populations are plummeting and the religion is being driven out of some of its historic heartlands. There is even talk of Christianity becoming extinct in places where it has existed for generations – where the faith was born."
Baroness Warsi will argue for a "spirit of unity" to "stir the world" against the persecution of religious minorities. "From Apartheid to gay rights, intolerance and inequality have only been defeated when the mainstream has got behind the cause," she said. The speech will follow an event on religious freedom hosted at the Council on Foreign Relations. The discussion will be moderated by Katherine Marshall, visiting professor at Berkley Centre for Religion at Georgetown University.
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Minister Baroness Warsi warns persecution threatens the Christian way of life
CHRISTIANITY is in danger of extinction in many parts of the world because of growing persecution, a Tory minister warned yesterday.
By: Macer Hall Published: Sat, November 16, 2013
Lady Warsi advocates for Christian's rights [GETTY] Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities, said Christians were being driven out of countries such as Syria and Iraq where the religion first took root.
The peer, Britain’s first female Muslim Cabinet minister, raised her concerns in a speech at Georgetown University in Washington DC.
Earlier, she said countries such as Pakistan should do more to “set the tone” for tolerance of minorities.
Lady Warsi told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m concerned that the birthplace of Christianity, the parts of the world where Christianity first spread, is now seeing large sections of the community leaving and those remaining feeling persecuted.
We all have an interest in making sure that Christian communities feel belong says Warsi [GETTY]
The birthplace of Christianity is now seeing large sections of the community leaving and those remaining feeling persecuted
Baroness Warsi
“There are huge advantages to having pluralistic societies – everything from the economy to the way people develop educationally, and therefore we all have an interest in making sure that Christian communities do continue to feel that they belong and are not persecuted.”
She said she had already had “very frank conversations” with ministers in Pakistan, telling them that senior politicians have a “duty” to speak out against persecution.
EXTINCTION: Christians should not feel persecuted [GETTY]Source
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