“ Under President Donald Trump, America will continue to condemn persecution of any kind, of any faith, any place, any time. We will stand against it with our ideals and with all our might.
The freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our conscience is at the very heart of who we are as Americans. In a very real sense, America was founded by people who had the courage to cross the Atlantic, motivated in so many cases to come here so that they might have that freedom of religion. ”

“ So know those of you that stare persecution in the face every day in distant lands, you have the prayers of the American people, prayers of my family, and you have the prayers of the President of the United States. ”

“ For as history attests, persecution of one faith is ultimately the persecution of all faiths. (Applause.)
President Trump will continue to stand without apology to protect this fundamental freedom, not just for our people but stand for it in the world. Since the founding of our nation, America has stood for the proposition that the right to believe and the right to act on one’s beliefs is the right of all peoples at all times. Protecting and promoting religious freedom is a foreign policy priority of the Trump administration. ”

“ Truth is, today, for all the prosperity of the freedom of faith in America and other free societies, today, according to the Pew Center, nearly 80 percent of the human family lives in places where restrictions on religion are either “high” or “very high.” It’s a five-percent increase in a single year.
Too many nations let the mob trample on the rights of the minority. Still more prefer the coercion of the state to conviction of the soul. And the limitations placed on people of belief have become too numerous to count. ”

“ In President Trump, we not only have a leader who calls our enemy by name, we have a President who is confronting those who commit terror no matter the home or hut or cave in which they hide. In President Trump, I can promise you the armed forces of the United States of America, working with our allies in the region in Iraq and Afghanistan -- we will not rest, we will not relent until we hunt down and destroy ISIS at its source. ”

“ Our brother and sisters in faith, I can assure you are being carried by the prayers of the faithful across this nation and across the world. You have the prayers of our President and all the American people. ”

“ The suffering of Christians in the Middle East has stirred America to act, and it brings me here today. President Trump rightly said not long ago that -- of the Christian church, “nobody has been treated worse in the Middle East.” He’s made it clear that America will stand by followers of Christ in this hour of need. Our administration is fully committed in bringing relief and comfort to believers not only across the Middle East but across the world. This President knows the terrorists will not stop until we stop them. And under President Donald Trump, we will stop them. ”

“ And it inspires all who are looking on today. Would you all join me in thanking the courageous believers who have stood for their faith under withering persecution who are with us here today? We are honored by their presence. ”

“ Now, Christianity faces unprecedented threats in the land where it was given life, its creed in an exodus unrivaled since the days of Moses in some communities. In Syria, the Christian population has plummeted from one-and-a-quarter million to only 500,000 in just the past six years. In Iraq, followers of Christ have fallen by 80 percent in the past decade and a half due to the violence of extremism and acts against Christian communities. ”

“ They are them the embodiment of evil in our time. He calls them by name -- radical Islamic terrorists. (Applause.)
From al Qaeda to al Shabaab, from Boko Haram to the Taliban, these extremist groups seek to stamp out all religions that are not their own, or even a version of their own that they approve. ”

“ The Christian communities where the message of our Lord was first uttered and embraced today, though, are often the targets of unspeakable atrocity. In Egypt, just recently, we saw bombs explode in churches in the very midst of the celebration of Palm Sunday. ”