International Christian Concern (ICC), an organization that aims to fight religious persecution around the world, released a statement on Monday declaring that President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 US presidential election inspires “hope for the restoration of religious freedom.”
In a statement responding to Biden’s election withdrawal, ICC President Jeff King noted that Biden’s predecessor, former President Donald Trump, “was a focused and effective advocate for religious freedom around the world,” suggesting that a return of Trump to the White House could lead to a reprioritization of fighting religious persecution at the highest levels of the U.S. government.
The ICC issued an emailed statement on Monday.
In a letter posted to social media on Sunday, Biden announced he would not seek a second term as president.
“Serving as President has been the greatest honor of my life,” the letter purportedly written by Biden read. “Though I intend to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and our country for me to step down and focus solely on the duties of President for the remainder of my term.”
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
The tone of the letter is in stark contrast to Biden’s repeated assertions over the past month that he would reject pressure to withdraw from the race. This pressure culminated in his debate with former President Trump in late June. Biden’s performance in the debate was marked by incomprehensible answers and moments that seemed unrelated to the questions. Many observers, including Democrats, questioned Biden’s cognitive abilities given his advanced age after his performance in the debate. Meanwhile, news reports citing anonymous sources described the debate as being largely sane from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but White House aides said they could not guarantee he would be able to perform at any other time.
Biden has not been seen in public since Friday and has not made any public statements other than in writing since Sunday, after announcing on social media that he was endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Over 14 million people Voted Biden will be the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential primary.
“Many in the human rights community are watching these developments and beginning to hope that the United States will once again take the lead in the fight for religious freedom around the world,” the ICC said in a statement, referring to Biden’s poor record on religious persecution.
“My private discussions with Biden have undoubtedly been extremely challenging, both personally and professionally,” King said, without directly commenting on Biden’s policies. Instead, King highlighted Trump’s efforts to combat religious persecution during his presidency.
“President Trump is a highly polarizing figure, but during his presidency the United States has been a focused and effective champion for religious freedom around the world,” King said. “This effort was led by a team of knowledgeable and experienced government veterans. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Special Envoy Sam Brownback together oversaw what many consider a golden age for religious freedom.”
“Their effectiveness in advancing religious freedom around the world has been unparalleled in recent decades (or ever),” King continued. “If President Trump is re-elected, I hope to see similar efforts to advance religious freedom globally. This is not a political statement or campaign statement, but rather the perspective of an educated observer who cares deeply about religious freedom in the world and in our own country.”
King concluded by saying that religious freedom is a “cornerstone of our democracy” and urged Americans to work together to “get through these difficult times and defend the principles that have defined and strengthened our nation from the beginning.”
Biden has faced fierce criticism from religious freedom advocates during his presidency, particularly over his foreign policy toward Nigeria and India. The International Criminal Court has named Nigeria the most dangerous place in the world for Christians and it is home to extremist Islamic terrorist groups that regularly attack Christian communities and abduct mass numbers of women and girls, forcing them into sex slavery or suicide bombings. In the northeast of the country, the Islamic State-affiliated Boko Haram regularly attacks Christian communities, while in the central region Fulani jihadists are carrying out mass genocides against indigenous Christian populations.
The Nigerian government has done little to protect Christians, despite the fact that nearly half of the population is Christian, and Nigerian presidents have dismissed religious persecution as a “climate change” issue with no religious roots.
In 2021, the Biden State Department removed Nigeria from a list of countries of particular concern for religious freedom, a move that human rights experts called an “inexplicable error” and that appears out of step with changing realities on the ground in Nigeria. Like the Nigerian government, the State Department has been hesitant to describe the mass killings of Christians by Islamic extremists as a religiously motivated conflict.
“I’m educated enough to know that America needs allies in the world, but our appeal is that it should not come at the expense of Christian lives or the blood of innocent people,” Father Remigius Ihyula, a Catholic priest who serves in the besieged Middle Belt, told Breitbart News in July 2023.
Biden similarly supports the Indian government, where law enforcement has done little to stop Hindu nationalist violence against Christian minorities. In one of the most brutal cases of Christian persecution in recent memory, mob violence erupted in the northern state of Manipur in July 2023 when members of the Hindu-majority Meitei ethnic group attacked members of the mostly Christian Kukizo ethnic group, forcing thousands to flee their homes. The attacks included multiple gang-rapes of Christian women that were filmed and then paraded naked through the streets.
Less than a month after the gang rape, India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood next to President Biden at the White House and told reporters that there was no religious persecution in the country.
“I am actually surprised that people say that. And people don’t say that. Yes, India is a democracy,” Modi said then. “We have always proven that democracy delivers. And when I say delivers, it has nothing to do with caste, creed, religion or gender. There is absolutely no room for discrimination.”
