Republicans on Monday introduced a bill that would sanction Chinese entities linked to Beijing’s persecution of Christians.
The “Combating the Persecution of Religious Groups in China Act” aims to “strengthen America’s response to combat the CCP’s ongoing acts of religious persecution targeting Christians and other religious minorities,” a copy of the bill reviewed by The Daily Wire reads. If passed, the United States will sanction any official of the People’s Republic of China who is responsible for or has directly carried out “abuses of religious freedom.”
Abuses include “Arbitrary detention, forced sterilization, torture, forced labor, and serious restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, expression, and movement.”
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) introduced the bill on October 27, International Religious Freedom Day. Congressman Mark Alford (R-MO) introduced the bill in the House.
The legislation comes just weeks after the Chinese Communist Party detained more than 30 pastors and staff from Zion Church, a well-known Christian house church in China. Zion Church was shut down in 2018 but re-emerged in multiple locations, NPR <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/12/nx-s1-5571936/zion-church-ezra-jin-arrest-china-christian">reported</a>. In response, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement condemning the detentions and calling for the immediate release of the church members.
Rubio said the incident <a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/10/detention-of-zion-house-church-leaders-in-china">shows</a> how the CCP “exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches.”
Co-sponsors of the bill in the Senate include Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn (TN), Ashley Moody (FL), Thom Tillis (NC), and Todd Young (IN), while co-sponsors in the House include Republican Reps. Greg Steube (FL), Dan Crenshaw (TX), and Michael McCaul (TX).
In a statement, Budd said China’s “disdain for religious freedom is not new,” noting it is an “ongoing and brutal pattern of abuse that must be met with steadfast American strength.”
“As the leader of the free world, the United States must promote religious freedom around the world and hold China’s authoritarian regime responsible for decades of persecution targeting Christians and other religious minorities. The CCP’s restrictions on freedom of religion and cruelty toward religious minorities in China must come to an end,” Budd said.
Alford said the CCP “has perpetrated heinous abuses against religious groups for decades.”
He said he believes it’s time for the United States to “stand up for religious freedom in China as we have in other parts of the world.”
The bill would also bolster State Department efforts to combat the ongoing persecution of Protestant Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, and other religious minorities.
A 2024 report said that the CCP “tortured, physically abused, arrested, disappeared, detained, sentenced to prison, subjected to forced indoctrination in CCP ideology, and harassed adherents of both registered and unregistered religious groups.”
On October 23, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced a resolution calling on the CCP to release the members of Zion Church and all other wrongfully detained religious leaders.

Bahrain’s King Hamad Al Khalifa Visits China

Lawmakers Push To End Christian Persecution In China As Underground Church Pastors Face Detention

China

Communist China

Persecution

Religious Liberty

The daughter of a Christian pastor detained by the Chinese Communist Party alongside nearly two dozen church leaders is warning of a coming “wave” of Christian persecution in China, she told The Daily Wire. 
Last week, the Chinese government rounded up prominent pastor Mingri “Ezra” Jin and at least 22 other church leaders and locked them up in a detention center in Guangxi, a region in southern China. Jin and the others detained are connected to the Zion Church, one of the largest underground church networks in China.
Grace, Jin’s daughter, told The Daily Wire that she fears that these detentions are only the beginning of a nationwide crackdown on Christianity. 
The detained Christians were from all across the country, including cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, she said. All of the detained pastors have been taken to a central location in Beihai, Guangxi — approximately 1,200 miles south of Shanghai and 1,500 miles from Beijing. 
The pastors have been clothed in prison garb and handcuffed, according to Grace.
Their crime? They are accused of illegally disseminating information online. Grace believes additional charges could follow because government officials have been probing the church&#8217;s structure and finances. 
“This is definitely orchestrated by a high-up central government level” because “they were rounding up people from all across China, and they were all bringing them to one location,” she told The Daily Wire. 
“It was almost simultaneous, it was orderly, and it was orchestrated all together at the same time,” she added, noting that the government appeared to be tracking the pastors&#8217; movements in order to track them down and detain them. 
On Monday morning, Grace said her grandmother attempted to bring her father a Bible and his diabetes medicine, but authorities would not allow her or other family members to visit their detained loved ones. She also said her father and many others weren&#8217;t allowed to speak to a lawyer. 
”We don&#8217;t really know how they are doing,” Grace said. 
She added it was tough to see men who only wanted to spread God’s love treated like criminals. 
“The fact that these folks who are just generally always so gentle, so peaceful, so happy to serve others, are seen as this criminal, and treated as criminals, and put into these shameful prison garments, and put into handcuffs and shackles [doesn’t make sense],&#8221; Grace said. 
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Her father first became a Christian after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
“When the country betrayed them in such a brutal way, it really was shocking, and they lost a sense of direction for my dad,” Grace said. “He then found the sense of purpose and direction in Christianity, and he turned to Christ, and he realized that was the firm foundation that he needed in order to build his life upon.”
After his conversion, Jin initially pastored one of the government-sanctioned churches approved by China, but he soon left after feeling his ministry was being held “hostage” to the whims of the government, Grace said. 
The government wanted Jin to use the pulpit to promote communism and the Chinese Communist Party. It prohibited discussions of fundamental Christian beliefs, including the second coming of Jesus, because officials declared that China was already a utopia. 
In 2017, Jin started Zion after years of theological training in the United States. By 2018, the government had cracked down on Zion by closing its physical location and freezing the church’s assets. 
Grace said that her father has been detained multiple times over the past few years, but never formally charged. Sometimes he has been taken to hotels and harassed, she said. This time, she believes the detention is more serious and they will face a lengthy prosecution. 
Jin’s detention last week captured the attention of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who called for him to be immediately released. 
“This crackdown further demonstrates how the CCP exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches,” Rubio said. “We call on the CCP to immediately release the detained church leaders and to allow all people of faith, including members of house churches, to engage in religious activities without fear of retribution.”
Grace, who is an American, was grateful for Rubio’s swift condemnation and wants to spread awareness about her father’s detention. She said Rubio’s message had already been blocked in China. 
China, which is home to nearly 100 million Christians, is regularly ranked as one of the worst offenders when it comes to Christian persecution. Open Doors, a watchdog organization that advocates for persecuted Christians, <a href="https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/world-watch-list/china/">listed</a> China as the 15th worst country in the world for persecution, according to its most recent standings.
Grace believes that the persecution could get worse, and that her father&#8217;s arrest is only the beginning. 
“We think that this is just the beginning and that there is a wave of persecution that is coming.”

CHINA-RELIGION-RIGHTS

Daughter Of Detained Pastor Warns Of A Coming ‘Wave’ Of Christian Persecution In Communist China

Daughter Of Detained Pastor Fears 'Wave' Of Persecution From Communist China

Christianity

Jesus Christ

Marco Rubio

State Department

More than 40 Christians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were killed by Islamic militants early Sunday morning, according to reports from multiple Christian organizations and the United Nations.
The victims, including at least nine children, were holding a prayer vigil as part of a summer holiday session in the early morning hours in the city of Komanda when they were attacked by the Allied Democratic Forces, a radical Islamic rebel group with ties to the Islamic State, <a href="https://www.churchinneed.org/dozens-killed-in-another-church-massacre-in-dr-congo/">according</a> to Aid to the Church in Need.
&#8220;The attack occurred at around 1 o’clock in the morning. The rebels entered the church and murdered a large number of children, both inside the church building and in the compound,&#8221; said Fr. Marcelo Oliveira, a longtime missionary in the Congo.
Islamic militants set fire to homes and shops in Komanda before fleeing. The terrorists were gone by the time the government forces arrived. According to the United Nations peacekeeping mission, 43 people were killed in the attack, including 19 women and nine children, the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ezjg34lw4o">reported</a>. The Congolese military said that the insurgents used machetes in their attack, adding, &#8220;These terrorists have decided to take revenge on defenseless peaceful populations to spread terror.&#8221;
The attack is yet another example of the extreme persecution faced by Christians at the hands of Islamic extremists in the Congo and other African nations. In February, 70 Christians were found <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/70-christians-beheaded-in-congo-church?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=70+Christians+Beheaded+In+Congo+Church">beheaded</a> in a church after they were attacked by militants with the Allied Democratic Forces. Last month, around 200 Christians in Nigeria were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/terrible-massacre-hundreds-of-christians-killed-by-jihadists?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Terrible+Massacre%E2%80%99%3A+Hundreds+Of+Christians+Killed+By+Jihadists">killed</a> by jihadists who stormed a predominantly Catholic farming community and set fire to homes.
Christian persecution in Africa receives little to no <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=a19e3038bac685ef&amp;rlz=1C5GCCM_en&amp;q=congo+christians+killed&amp;tbm=nws&amp;source=lnms&amp;fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZrjP_Cx0LI1Ytb_FGcOviEiTm5uW1q0uNfK7KsnoL8hUyUYUJLZ_b-p0lT09DIkR7RtNt-9R1f9Pbq4mdMMyxSelEHHADgzBCNx7-1ORi0KJWiwbiRKhaJlqpDHUl2dNr8G5XPk2ywt6RaMo8S7jdrN1-wsMK-NpRx3wHhwRUuCDXYdA01GXeONWxb0oGcT8AZCQ6oA&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjq1cau0-KOAxXnk2oFHV7JBBkQ0pQJegQIFRAB&amp;biw=1440&amp;bih=778&amp;dpr=2">coverage</a> in the legacy news media despite the constant threats and violence faced by people of faith. According to the Christian group <a href="https://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/latest-news/drc-attack-church/">Open Doors</a>, 355 Christians in the Congo were killed in 2024, an increase from 261 in 2023.
The Congo remains a completely volatile political landscape with factions and rebel groups fighting for control of multiple regions. The fighting has resulted in more than 100,000 Congolese people getting <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/02/1160006">displaced</a>, the United Nations reported in February.

Christians in Congo

Islamic Militants Slaughter Dozens Of Christians During Prayer Vigil

Africa

Christians

Congo

Crime

Radical Islamic Terror

World

Later this month, I will travel to Armenia as part of a delegation of American Christian leaders. By historical consensus, Armenia is the world’s first Christian nation, having adopted Christianity in AD 301, more than a decade before Constantine&#8217;s Edict of Milan that granted religious liberty to Christians and others across the realm.
Over the centuries, Armenia has preserved its Christian faith through hostile enemy invasions, forced conversions, and even genocide. Despite being surrounded by autocratic regimes and militant ideologies that directly contest its survival, it has maintained its original faith.
In 2023, the world witnessed the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/they-hate-us-so-much-worlds-oldest-christian-nation-faces-ethnic-cleansing-as-emboldened-azerbaijan-wages-a-silent-war">forced displacement</a> of over 120,000 Christian Armenians from their ancestral homeland of Artsakh (widely known as Nagorno-Karabakh), which had long been a self-governing democratic entity within the international borders of Azerbaijan.
The removal of these Christians was the result of a brutal blockade, military assault, and systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing by despotic Azerbaijan, backed by authoritarian Turkey. Sadly, the world’s response to this attack on freedom, religious liberty, self-government, and the right of political self-determination was largely silence.
As Scripture reminds us, “If one member suffers, all suffer together” <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/1%20Corinthians%2012%3A26">(1 Corinthians 12:26</a>). Armenia’s suffering must be our concern, not only because of our shared faith but because Armenia’s fate determines whether ancient Christian civilizations will be allowed to survive in an increasingly hostile neighborhood.
Azerbaijan currently holds dozens of Armenian political prisoners, including former political and religious leaders and journalists. It has demolished centuries-old churches, bulldozed cemeteries, and attempted to erase every vestige of the region’s indigenous Christian heritage. What it cannot destroy is often defaced, and border communities in southern Armenia live in constant fear of violence.
Our trip is organized by <a href="https://www.savearmenia.us/">Save Armenia</a>, a U.S.-based coalition of Christian and Jewish leaders. We draw global attention to these current threats and offer meaningful solidarity to Christians and Jews living in a perilous region. In the aftermath of recent ethnic cleansings, Save Armenia has mobilized support to protect Armenia’s sovereignty, advocate for justice, and raise awareness among American faith communities and policymakers alike.
Our itinerary is both spiritual and strategic.
We will visit displaced families who have lost everything yet remain deeply rooted in faith, and we will hear the voices of a people who have suffered for their faith yet never abandoned it.
We will walk through villages near hostile frontiers, speak with the provincial governor, and meet with high-ranking officials from Armenia’s Foreign Ministry and Security Council.
We will stand in monasteries older than most nations, praying in the 9th-century monastery of Tatev, perched high above a gorge in Armenia’s south. And we will stand in the ancient 3rd-century monastery where Saint Gregory the Illuminator was once imprisoned, and where the story of Christian Armenia began.
We believe Christians everywhere have a moral responsibility to help their persecuted brethren. We speak up for persecuted Christians in the Middle East and Africa, and we must not ignore what is occurring in Armenia. Religious freedom cannot be a selective principle.
Armenia has had a rocky path since regaining its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is now a pluralistic and scrappy democracy striving for peace and justice under immense pressure.
It does not enjoy the protections of NATO, the backing of global oil wealth, or the security of a powerful military. What it does enjoy is a legacy of faith, a thirst for freedom, and a history that dates back to the earliest days of the Church. Armenia must continue to exist as a free nation.
We urge our fellow Christians to learn more about our brethren there and help raise awareness about its dangerous situation.
Inform your church, and pray for our brothers and sisters there.
Also, let the federal Congressmen and Senators from your state know what is happening in and to Armenia. Knowledge is power, and once they know, they can take effective action.
Specifically…
<ol>
<li>Let them know about the recent ethnic cleansings at the hands of Azerbaijan.</li>
<li>Urge them to seek the release of all Armenian political prisoners.</li>
<li>Likewise, urge the defense of Armenia’s Christian heritage — demand that Azerbaijan preserve intact, without desecration or destruction, the ancient Armenian cultural and religious sites it controls.</li>
<li>Insist on the preservation of Armenia’s borders against it neighbors who want to seize and control that land area.</li>
</ol>
Collectively, we must support the Trump Administration’s efforts to help Armenia, but we must also encourage our federal legislators to do the same. Urge their specific engagement on the above matters.
It’s easy to despair in today’s world, but Armenia offers a different lesson: that faith, even when bruised, can endure —that Christian identity, even when threatened, will inspire — and that moral solidarity can still change the course of history.
Let us not stand idly by when there is so much we can easily do to help our brethren.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/48949/sunday-special-ep-57-david-barton">David Barton</a> is the Founder of WallBuilders and the author of numerous best-selling books. 
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The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Armenia

Why Christians Must Stand With Armenia

Armenians

Turkey

West Virginia Congressman Riley Moore and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley called Thursday for the Trump administration to use diplomatic means to protect Christians in Islamic nations from persecution.
Moore introduced a <a href="https://rileymoore.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/rileymoore.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/final-moorwv_021_xml.pdf">resolution</a> in the House urging lawmakers to condemn the persecution of Christians in Muslim-majority countries and asks the Trump administration to prioritize the protection of Christians during peacekeeping efforts throughout the Middle East. Hawley introduced the same resolution in the Senate. 
“Around the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ face rampant persecution for simply acknowledging the name of Jesus. That is unacceptable,” Moore told The Daily Wire. “We as lawmakers cannot continue to sit idly by.”
The resolution includes a list of over a dozen countries, predominantly in Africa and the Middle East, where Christians face intense persecution. A copy of the resolution viewed by The Daily Wire “encourages the President to prioritize the protection of persecuted Christians in U.S. foreign policy, including in the President’s diplomatic engagement with Muslim-majority countries and his efforts to stabilize the Middle East.”
The resolution also asks to use diplomatic tools like trade and national security discussions to advance the protection of Christians abroad. 
Examples of persecution included killings, forced marriages, kidnappings of girls, and the prohibition of holding worship services or discussing the Gospel. For example, it says that in Algeria &#8220;nearly all evangelical churches have been shut down for years and pastors are regularly arrested and charged for their evangelism&#8221; and that in Egypt &#8220;Christian girls are regularly kidnapped and forcefully converted with impunity.&#8221;
Other countries called out for their treatment of Christians include Nigeria, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Turkey, Gaza, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, and others.
“Our country was founded on religious liberty. We cannot sit on the sidelines as Christians around the world are being persecuted for declaring Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior,&#8221; Hawley told The Daily Wire. &#8220;We must condemn these heinous crimes.&#8221;
&#8220;Year after year, the number of Christians murdered by extremists in Nigeria has numbered in the thousands. Millions more have been displaced. We cannot allow this to continue,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I urge my colleagues to join me in condemning the persecution of Christians around the world by supporting this resolution.&#8221;
Moore pointed to two specific areas where Christians have been attacked. 
“In Nigeria alone, more than 50,000 Christians have been martyred and more than 5 million have been displaced simply for professing their faith. During a Divine Liturgy in Damascus last month, an islamic jihadist opened fire on worshippers and detonated an explosive device — killing at least 30 and wounding dozens more,” he said. “These examples illustrate the violence and death Christians face on a daily basis.”
Last month, jihadists <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/terrible-massacre-hundreds-of-christians-killed-by-jihadists">massacred</a> around 200 Christians in Nigeria’s Benue State after a group of militants screaming “Allahu Akbar&#8221; attacked a group who had previously been displaced by Fulani Jihadist attacks.
Moore also said previous American “foreign policy blunders” had made the situation worse for Christians, saying that the failure to stabilize Iraq after the 2003 invasion led to the ethnic cleansing of the Christian population. 
The resolution was endorsed by a number of advocacy groups including Alliance Defending Freedom International, In Defense of Christians, Global Christian Relief, CatholicVote, Advancing American Freedom, The Center for Urban Renewal and Education, Family Policy Alliance, Christians Engaged, and Save the Persecuted Christians.

TOPSHOT-ADDITION-NIGERIA-BLAST

EXCLUSIVE: Republicans Say America Cannot ‘Sit Idly By’ As Islamic Terrorists Massacre Christians

Josh Hawley

Radical Islam

Riley Moore

West Virginia

At least 20 Christians were killed and 52 others were wounded on Sunday when a radical Islamic terrorist opened fire in an Orthodox church in Damascus, Syria, and then detonated an explosive vest, according to Syria&#8217;s interior ministry.
The terrorist, affiliated with ISIS, targeted Mar Elias Church in Dweila, on the outskirts of Damascus, the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c307n9p43z9o">reported</a>. A person who witnessed the attack told AFP news agency that &#8220;someone entered carrying a weapon&#8221; and began firing at worshipers. A group of church members charged the attacker and &#8220;tried to stop him before he blew himself up,&#8221; the witness added.
Graphic footage of the aftermath of the bombing captured by the Syrian Civil Defence showed bloody bodies on the ground and rows of pews blown to pieces. Some local media reports said that children were among those killed in the terrorist attack, according to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/suicide-bomber-syria-church-dweila/">CBS News</a>.
Issam Nasr, a man who was at the church during the attack, said that he saw people &#8220;blown to bits.&#8221;
&#8220;We have never held a knife in our lives. All we ever carried were our prayers,&#8221; Nasr said.
The bombing marks the first successful jihadist attack on a Christian church in Syria since Bashar al-Assad and his government were toppled by Islamic extremists in December, according to Reuters. The Islamic State was behind multiple other recent attacks on Christian churches in the country, but none were successful.
Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is part of a Sunni Islamist group that has ties to al-Qaeda, has repeatedly vowed to protect religious minorities in the country, but violence against Christians continues. There are over 500,000 Christians in Syria, and they are regularly the victims of government oppression and Islamic extremism, according to <a href="https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/syria/">Open Doors</a>, which ranks the country at 18th on the list of countries where Christians face the most persecution.

Deadly Blast Kills At Least 20 At Church In Damascus

Jihadist Suicide Bomber Kills 20, Wounds Dozens More At Orthodox Church

Bombings

Death

Shooting

Syria

Terrorism

Jihadists massacred around 200 Christians in Nigeria last week after storming a predominantly Catholic farming community and setting fire to homes, according to multiple reports.
Last Friday and Saturday, Fulani Jihadist herdsmen targeted the Christians in Yelwata, in Nigeria’s Benue State, according to Catholic news outlet, <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-africa/2025/06/latest-attack-reportedly-kills-nearly-200-people-in-nigeria">Crux</a>. The militants attempted to storm St. Joseph’s Church in Yelwata, which was housing families who had been displaced by previous Fulani Jihadist attacks in other areas, but were repelled by police, according to another report from <a href="https://www.churchinneed.org/nigeria-up-to-200-dead-in-worst-killing-spree/">Church in Need</a>. The militants then attacked the town square, setting fire to buildings and killing people while yelling &#8220;Allahu Akbar.&#8221;
According to eyewitnesses on the ground in the Nigerian community, the Jihadists &#8220;surrounded Yelwata &#8230; and began slaughtering people—mostly women, children, and displaced families who thought they had found safety here.”
“We’re still finding bodies in the bushes,” <a href="https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/fulani-jihadists-massacre-over-200-christians-in-nigeria">said</a> local youth leader Mton Matthias. “The death toll is rising every hour.”
Pope Leo addressed the &#8220;terrible massacre&#8221; on Sunday when he said Christians &#8220;were killed with extreme cruelty, most of whom were internally displaced persons hosted by the local Catholic mission.&#8221;
&#8220;I pray that security, justice, and peace will prevail in Nigeria, a beloved country so affected by various forms of violence,&#8221; Pope Leo said before he delivered the Sunday Angelus prayer, Vatican News reported. &#8220;And I pray in a special way for the rural Christian communities in Benue State who have been unceasingly the victims of violence.&#8221;
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Pope Leo prays for the victims of a “terrible massacre” in Benue State, Nigeria.
Around 200 people were “brutally killed” in Yelwata, in the Guma Local Government Area on the night of the 13th/14th June, the Pope said, most of them internally displaced persons “sheltered by the… <a href="https://t.co/gOZw8Ny0L2">pic.twitter.com/gOZw8Ny0L2</a>
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/VaticanNews/status/1934238312937537896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The violence against Christians in Nigeria is not new, but last week&#8217;s massacre marks the deadliest atrocity committed against Christians in the country in recent years, according to Church in Need. Fulani herdsman, made up of Muslims, regularly threaten farming communities, made up mostly of Christians, in Benue State. Between 2023 and 2025, more than 1,000 people have been killed as the Jihadists have clashed with farmers and Nigeria&#8217;s security forces, the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyznnl4mddo">reported</a>.
According to Rev. Fr. Remigius Ihyula — director of the Justice, Peace and Development Foundation (JPDF) — the violence against Christians is part of an effort to clear the land of the Christian inhabitants.
“These Fulani militias are not just killing—they’re clearing land to claim it,” he <a href="https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/fulani-jihadists-massacre-over-200-christians-in-nigeria">said</a>. “And they’re being allowed to do it.”
The Nigerian government, led by Muslims, has been accused of looking the other way while radical Muslims attack and kill Christians.
“The credible evidence of who [the attackers] are is undeniable, so why is the government helpless in securing the safety of its citizens?&#8221; asked Father Moses Aondover Iorapuu, a Parish priest in Makurdi, Nigeria.

Religious cross on a building’s gable

‘Terrible Massacre’: Hundreds Of Christians Killed By Jihadists

Islamic Jihad

Murder

Nigeria

Pope Leo

Religion

Afrikaner refugees

The Left Just Found A Type Of Refugee They Actually Hate

Apartheid

Donald Trump

Matt Walsh

Opinion

Racism

Refugees

South Africa

Trump Administration

Amid all the talk about tariffs with China, and how they steal America&#8217;s intellectual property and establish all kinds of trade barriers with this country, you might have missed this story. It&#8217;s not about economics, but at the same time, it tells you a lot about what authoritarian countries like China fear the most.
Beginning on May 1, China will accelerate its crackdown on religion, and Christianity in particular. Foreign missionaries will be banned from preaching unless they obtain formal approval from the government.
According to Chinese <a href="https://www.persecution.org/2025/04/04/china-moves-to-formally-ban-missionary-activity/">state media</a>, the goal of the new regulation is to protect &#8220;national security&#8221; and &#8220;political stability&#8221; by forcing people to attend official, state-run religious services with pre-approved messaging. Additionally, Chinese state media has recently boasted about the fact that religious groups — which the government calls &#8220;cult organizations&#8221; — have been increasingly shut down in China. At this point, one of the fastest ways to disappear in China is to deliver a sermon that upsets the ruling party.
Of course, this is the exact opposite of the result we were promised when the United States normalized free trade with China several decades ago. As Bill Clinton put it, “Membership in the W.T.O. will not create a free society in China overnight or guarantee that China will play by global rules. &#8230; But over time, I believe it will move China faster and further in the right direction.”
That hasn&#8217;t happened. Instead, China is now aggressively moving to crush Christians, for the simple reason that Christians believe in a higher power than their government. We have not introduced Western norms to China. We have not exported our values to them. Instead, despite the promises of free trade, China has successfully exported its totalitarian impulses to the West. One by one, Western countries are adopting anti-Christian crackdowns, to the point that they&#8217;re making it illegal for Christians to practice their faith.
What&#8217;s happening right now in New South Wales, which is a state on the east coast of Australia, makes this very clear. Earlier this month, something called the &#8220;Conversion Practices Ban Act of 2024&#8221; became law in New South Wales. This law, by its own terms, allows the authorities to arrest Christians for praying. That is not an exaggeration or an overstatement. It&#8217;s actually <a href="https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/current/act-2024-019">written</a> into the legislation. From <a href="https://antidiscrimination.nsw.gov.au/discrimination/conversion-practices/frequently-asked-questions.html#What4">the government</a> of New South Wales: &#8220;Praying with or over a person with the intent to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identity is unlawful. It is unlawful even if that person has asked you to pray for them to be able to change or suppress their sexuality or gender identity.&#8221;
This again is in Australia, a western nation. Not China. Praying with someone who wants you to pray with them could land you in jail. That&#8217;s happening right now, in a supposed western democracy.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1573-member-exclusive?elementPosition=2&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
In other words, if someone wants to pray to God so that he can overcome his gender dysphoria — a condition that, by definition, causes significant mental distress — then his pastor cannot pray with him. In fact, his own family members cannot pray with him. If the police discover that any unapproved prayers have been occurring, they can kick down the doors of the church, or the family home, and haul away the violators. And then they&#8217;ll spend up to five years in prison for their crimes against the state: The crime of praying.
Just to emphasize this point, the government of New South Wales published the single most Orwellian video you&#8217;ll ever see. No matter how many times you&#8217;ve heard the word &#8220;Orwellian,&#8221; believe me, this qualifies. This is the government&#8217;s attempt to intimidate the millions of people who live in New South Wales, with their new law that bans prayer. 
Here&#8217;s how the video begins:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 prayer can be deeply harmful" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L09nr4CszAY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
First of all, by the terms of this legislation, every single gender activist in Australia is a criminal. They all believe, without exception, that you can choose to be &#8220;LGBTQA&#8221; (which is apparently the acronym now). There&#8217;s no other way to explain people who ping-pong between genders at will, or people who de-transition. In fact the concept of “fluidity” is now dogma in the LGBT religion. Fluidity — sexual fluidity, gender fluidity — means that you can change at will from one sexuality or gender to another. If someone identifies as a Bi-gender Toasterkin, and then a few weeks later decides he&#8217;s really a Demi-gender, half-humanoid alpaca, or whatever, then at some point, we can conclude that this person made a choice to identify in some arbitrary way. And every step of the way, gender activists — according to the tenets of their ideology — have no choice but to affirm everything. This is one of the reasons trans activists keep losing in court, by the way. They have to admit that, under their logic, so-called &#8220;Trans people&#8221; can choose, at any time, to be trans or not trans. And therefore, because &#8220;trans status&#8221; is malleable — again, malleable by definition, by THEIR definition —  they&#8217;re not entitled to civil rights protections, which only apply to immutable, unchanging traits.
As the video continues, things become even more dystopian.
There&#8217;s this line for example: &#8220;All people should feel welcome and valued and be able to live authentically and with PRIDE.&#8221; 
Yes, all people — every single one of them — should feel welcome and valued. They should all be able to &#8220;live authentically.&#8221; But this promise apparently does not apply to Christians who believe (as all of humanity did until 15 minutes ago) that men are men and women are women. Those Christians do not have the right to live authentically or &#8220;feel welcomed.&#8221; Instead, they can go straight to prison. Here&#8217;s more of the video, because again, as it goes along, things get worse and worse:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 introducing law" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/INw4m7qR-CI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is where they casually establish that &#8220;family members&#8221; — including a mother and father — can be incarcerated if they don&#8217;t affirm their child&#8217;s imagined gender identity. And of course they do it with a sing-songy, HR lady reading the voiceover. Scratch an HR lady and you will find a power-mad despot, every single time.
We&#8217;ve <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/conversion-therapy-bans-are-an-outrageous-attack-on-free-speech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">talked</a> about so-called &#8220;conversion therapy&#8221; before, and how efforts to ban the practice are both unconstitutional and incoherent. In this country, the Supreme Court is about to hear a case concerning whether Colorado&#8217;s ban on conversion therapy violates the First Amendment. The problem is that bans on &#8220;conversion therapy,&#8221; in every case, are premised on the idea that sexual orientation cannot be changed. But in the same breath, the government of New South Wales will tell you that sex is extremely changeable. In fact, you can go to the doctor and change it tomorrow. See the problem? If you&#8217;re changing your sex, then you&#8217;re also changing your sexual orientation, under their logic. A man who supposedly &#8220;becomes&#8221; a woman, but retains his attraction to men, would become a lesbian, in their view. This is the logical problem with these conversion therapy bans that they simply have no answer for. It&#8217;s like dividing by zero. 
But now they&#8217;re using this phony logic to justify throwing parents and priests in prison. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 report , can lead to prison" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cq0cqMeI-IY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The scope of this law is so broad that you could probably claim I&#8217;m violating it, if my show is broadcast in New South Wales. They want Australians to snitch on each other if they get a whiff of anyone who dares to suggest that gender ideology isn&#8217;t real. In a lot of ways, it&#8217;s like the COVID lockdowns all over again. You might remember that, at the height of the &#8220;pandemic,&#8221; there was a nationwide manhunt in Australia when some guy sneezed in an empty elevator without a mask on. Now they&#8217;re going to have manhunts over unauthorized prayers.
If you don&#8217;t believe that, consider what just happened a few weeks ago to Billboard Chris. He was peacefully standing in a market in Brisbane, wearing a sign that expressed his opposition to the castration of children in the name of gender ideology. He only spoke to people who spoke to him first. He didn&#8217;t obstruct anyone&#8217;s movement or anything like that. People were walking around him the whole time. There&#8217;s no dispute about any of this; it&#8217;s all on video. Nevertheless, Brisbane police arrested Billboard Chris, on camera. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 billboard chris" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MUv1IlzyT-M?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
They arrested him for standing in a public place with a sign. There&#8217;s no doubt that, if the sign had been pro-gay marriage or whatever, then none of this would have happened. If you watch the full video, the police can&#8217;t name a single other instance where they&#8217;ve jailed someone for peacefully protesting at that location. But Billboard Chris blasphemed Australia&#8217;s state religion, so they took him away in handcuffs. And now they&#8217;re planning to do the same thing to the clergy.
The other day, an Australian commentator named Evelyn Rae outlined exactly what&#8217;s happening here. Here was her assessment, which is worth playing — not only because she&#8217;s right, but also because it&#8217;s good to know that Australia hasn&#8217;t been completely captured yet. Here it is:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 Evelyn Rae On China" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2--leJmbBx4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Everything Evelyn Rae just said also applies to many other countries. This is not a problem that&#8217;s limited to Australia. 
Here&#8217;s a <a href="https://reason.com/2024/10/17/british-man-convicted-of-criminal-charges-for-praying-silently-near-abortion-clinic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report from Reason</a> late last year, for example. This is the kind of story that JD Vance mentioned in his recent address to European leaders.
<blockquote>A British man was convicted of criminal charges for praying silently near an abortion clinic. The man, Adam Smith-Connor, did not attempt to harass, intimidate, or interact in any way with those entering the clinic. Instead, he wordlessly prayed with his head bowed slightly. He wasn&#8217;t even on clinic property—he was outside the sightline of the clinic itself. &#8230; As a result, Smith-Connor was questioned by police and later charged with violating a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), a broad censorship order enabled by the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. Under this law, local authorities can obtain special status for some public places, allowing them to ban a huge range of conduct. In the name of limiting &#8216;anti-social behavior.&#8217;</blockquote>
Yes, prayer is considered &#8220;anti-social behavior&#8221; in England. These kinds of arrests are happening because — from Britain to Colorado to Canada to Australia to China — authoritarians in government detest any challenge to their authority. These government officials know that they&#8217;re not impressive people. Australia&#8217;s prime minister has barely held a real job in his life. Most of the country is represented by people like this. They&#8217;re petrified that their subjects might worship someone other than themselves. As a result, they&#8217;re now throwing Christians in prison for practicing their faith. This trend has accelerated in China, and it&#8217;s now spreading throughout the West. Christians are being forcibly silenced, at scale. They are being vilified and incarcerated for what they believe.
I began by saying this isn&#8217;t a monologue about economics or trade wars. That&#8217;s true. But as we consider how we&#8217;ll work with these countries in the future — as we negotiate trade deals and so on — the assaults on Christians simply cannot be ignored. These attacks are as unlawful and immoral as they are systematic. They are becoming a fundamental part of the culture of both our allies and our adversaries. For the benefit of billions of Christians, and to preserve basic constitutional rights like the freedom of speech, this coordinated assault on religion must end before it progresses any further.

Top view of group of people on therapy, praying and counselling concept.

This Might Be The Most Orwellian Law I’ve Ever Heard Of

Australia

Bible

Conversion Therapy

Gender

LGBTQ

Prayer

Sexual Orientation

Transgender

Seventy Christians were found dead in a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last week — reportedly beheaded at the hands of radical Islamic terrorists.
Christian group <a href="https://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/latest-news/drc-attack-church/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Open Doors</a>, which supports persecuted Christians around the world, said that terrorists from the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which has ties to the Islamic State, surrounded a village in Mayba in the territory of Lubero last Thursday, taking 20 men and women captive. The Islamic terrorists later returned and kidnapped 50 more Christians in the village and took them to a Protestant church in Kasanga, where they were brutally killed.
Open Doors said that, according to &#8220;field sources,&#8221; families were still waiting to bury their dead loved ones as of Tuesday while many Christians fled the area for safety.
“We don’t know what to do or how to pray; we’ve had enough of massacres,” said an elder of the CECA20 church in DRC. “May God’s will alone be done.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the massacre of Christians in DRC has received <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=9632110e93a89f4a&amp;rlz=1C5GCCM_en&amp;q=christians+beheaded+in+congo&amp;tbm=nws&amp;source=lnms&amp;fbs=ABzOT_CWdhQLP1FcmU5B0fn3xuWpmDtIGL1r84kuKz6yAcD_ip1RA3L6hbNpnjK_ML6MGeWIjTgL-AggqGM1Cmh_nFz65pNoy-s_-K4mDlh0UYPmc51dskRoyMlHnnoQayAcVZIQA7FJxW6z8vr8kXee0hJpia28bFX3oRF-0O_2ZWncGbHM2fCiLdt-OXXk7GcYUpr1D88gLj6PmUjaaV5otdKkMHQdzw&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjkhtjNktOLAxWY4skDHQoPL9YQ0pQJegQIERAB&amp;biw=1440&amp;bih=778&amp;dpr=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">no coverage</a> in the legacy media. Tristan Azbej, the Hungarian State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians, <a href="https://x.com/tristan_azbej/status/1892297095165403601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1892297095165403601%7Ctwgr%5Ef9bf07ab4a1f0f2cf72505f70236ce200f1984df%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fchristians-beheaded-congo-drc-2033864" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acknowledged</a> the mass killing of Christians in DRC and urged world leaders to &#8220;recognize and act against Christian persecution.&#8221;
&#8220;Horrified to learn about the 70 Christian martyrs beheaded by terrorists in a church in Kasanga, DRC,&#8221; Azbej wrote on X. &#8220;Hungary stands in solidarity with the persecuted Christians BUT we need more &#8230; the world needs to recognize and act against Christian persecution.&#8221;
Jeff King, the president of persecution watchdog International Christian Concern, told <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/70-christians-beheaded-in-drc-church-attack.html">The Christian Post</a>, “This recent massacre, where 70 Christians lost their lives, is not an isolated incident but part of a grim tapestry of violence that has claimed over 6 million lives in the DRC over two decades of on-and-off war.&#8221;
&#8220;The vast majority of the DRC’s residents are Christian, so this is a religious genocide carried out by radical Islamic terrorists (the ADF),&#8221; King added.
DRC has long faced instability and war as factions and rebel groups wrestle for control of multiple regions. Another rebel group, M23, has recently captured key cities in DRC as the Congolese government struggles to push back. Over 100,000 people have been displaced in the recent fighting, according to the <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/02/1160006" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United Nations</a>.
According to Open Doors, 355 Christians in DRC were killed in 2024 for their faith, an increase from 261 in 2023.

70 Christians Beheaded In Congo Church

Christians around the world are facing increased violence and threats because of their faith, according to a new watchdog report shared with The Daily Wire. 
<a href="https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Open Doors</a>, an organization dedicated to aiding persecuted Christians, released its annual report on persecution on Wednesday, finding that 380 million believers worldwide face high levels of persecution or discrimination for their faith. This was a steep increase from its 2024 report, which found that 365 million Christians faced intense levels of persecution. 
The report found that in 2024, 4,476 Christians were killed for their faith, including 3,100 in Nigeria; 3,944 were sexually assaulted, or forcibly married; 54,780 Christians were physically or mentally abused; 209,771 were forced to leave their homes; and 4,744 were sentenced to prison for their beliefs.  
For the last 32 years, the organization has ranked the top 50 worst countries for persecution of Christians. The top offender this year was again communist North Korea, where the state aggressively cracks down on religious expression. The other countries rounding out the top ten include Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. 
“At one level, it shouldn’t be a surprise at all there is persecution,” Open Doors President Ryan Brown told The Daily Wire. “When you take a look at the very birth of the church, if you read the New Testament, you see that the majority of the New Testament was written to those experiencing persecution or written by those experiencing persecution.”
Brown said that while persecution in Malaysia increased in the last year, it still fell out of the top 50 because the targeting of Christians had increased even more in other countries. 
“The things that, even just a year ago, were severe enough to have a country on that list on top 50, this year it wasn’t enough,” Brown said. “That global picture actually worsened.” 
When ranking countries, Open Doors considers a number of factors including government policies, community practices, and whether Christians are able to do things like go to church and own a Bible.
The two countries that were new to the top 50 this year were Chad and Kyrgyzstan, which saw the most dramatic increase in persecution of any country. 
Brown also noted that violence against Christians is trending upward in sub-Saharan Africa, where Christians are often targeted by Islamic extremists. He urged people to join the “<a href="https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/getinvolved/arise-africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arise Africa</a>” campaign, which seeks to bring awareness to the widespread persecution in the region. 
In Mexico, Brown said the situation for Christians had worsened because of cartel violence directed at churches upset they were undermining their illicit activities. 
“As folks move away from drugs and become engaged in the church, it&#8217;s bad for their business,” he said. “So the church has come under direct attack from the cartels in Mexico.” 
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?_gl=1*1lail3r*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzIyMDEyNDkuQ2owS0NRaUEwZnU1QmhEUUFSSXNBTVhVQk9JSkM0VnNsMFVreURxYXUxVWVEVWdOdjZkNzR2Y1pEeEZQeHVBcGl2R3BLaTdBMjVzT1p5TWFBdG1nRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*NDUxNDQ0NzYwLjE3MzY3ODI2NDY.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczNjk1NzYwMy4zNDAuMS4xNzM2OTU3NzE2LjYwLjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener">CELEBRATE #47 WITH 47% OFF DAILYWIRE+ MEMBERSHIPS + A FREE $20 GIFT</a>
Brown said the situation for Christians in Yemen has been “bleak” due to the country&#8217;s ongoing civil war. 
“Civil war obviously creates all sorts of instability in these areas,” he said. “We have seen some of the Islamic militants, specifically the Houthi rebels, that have been more than willing to step into some of those vacuums and perpetuate the instability. One of the ways that they can do that most effectively is targeting Christians. They are often able to do so with impunity.” 
The report features anecdotes from Christians around the world, including in Burkino Faso, where a man referred to as Pastor Sore said he had to flee with his family because of attacks from Islamic militants.
“When the terrorists come to churches and find Christians, they tell them that Christianity’s time is over, and they should turn to Islam,” he said. “They warn Christians to stop conducting services. After warning, when they come back later and find you in the church, they kill you.”
“I do believe that we are displaced, but Jesus is not and will never be displaced from our lives,” he added. “He is always with us.&#8221;
With the incoming Trump administration, Brown said he saw a “tremendous opportunity” to advance religious freedom abroad. He said that religious freedom helps create stability in countries and can aid in other foreign policy objectives.
&#8220;During Trump’s first term he articulated, and I think in many ways, demonstrated that freedom of religious belief would be central to a lot of their approaches to foreign policy,” he said, adding he hoped that policy would continue into his second term. 
When running for president, Trump promised to protect persecuted Christians, specifically Armenians.
“Kamala Harris did NOTHING as 120,000 Armenian Christians were horrifically persecuted and forcibly displaced in Artsakh,&#8221; Trump posted on Truth Social in October. &#8220;Christians around the World will not be safe if Kamala Harris is President of the United States. When I am President, I will protect persecuted Christians, I will work to stop the violence and ethnic cleansing, and we will restore PEACE between Armenia and Azerbaijan.&#8221;

NIGERIA-UNREST-FARMING-LIVESTOCK

Watchdog Finds Global Increase In Violence And Discrimination Against Christians

Violence

The following is an edited transcript of an interview between Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley and Jim Campbell, chief legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom on a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/colorado-s-cakeshop-case-crumbles-a-free-speech-victory-saturday-extra" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Saturday Extra Edition of Morning Wire</a>.
For 12 years, Colorado cake shop owner Jack Phillips has been embroiled in bruising legal battles with the state and an activist attorney to uphold his First Amendment right to not create messages that violate his religious beliefs. A recent ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court in Phillips’ favor may be the end of that lengthy legal saga. In this episode, we sit down with Jim Campbell, chief legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, which has been representing Phillips, to discuss the conclusion and implications of the free speech case.
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JOHN: Joining us now is Jim Campbell, chief legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, which has been representing Jack Phillips during his lengthy legal saga, which many are hoping has now come to an end. Jim, thanks so much for coming on.
JIM: Thank you.
JOHN: Jack has been in courts fighting for his freedom of speech for twelve years now, during which time he’s faced several lawsuits. First, can you give us a brief history of those lawsuits – who filed them and what were their motivations?
JIM: So, the first lawsuit was filed back in 2012. It was filed by two gentlemen who went into Jack Phillips’ shop and asked for a custom wedding cake celebrating a same sex union. He declined that request because he couldn&#8217;t do it in good conscience, celebrate that message, and they filed a discrimination complaint with the State of Colorado. The State of Colorado then brought charges against Jack and that case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court back in 2018, when the court issued a ruling that found that the state acted with hostility towards Jack&#8217;s faith and it threw out the case that was brought against him. So that was the first case. The second case actually started the first day that the Supreme Court announced it was going to hear that first case. There was an attorney in Colorado who had heard the news and called Jack&#8217;s shop and asked him to create a custom pink and blue cake to symbolize and celebrate a gender transition. Jack declined to make that cake because, again, that message celebrating a gender transition was something he couldn&#8217;t in good conscience do. So then that attorney who made that phone call filed another discrimination complaint against Jack. That case then started when the state of Colorado picked it up and brought charges against Jack. Rather than sit back and allow that to happen, Jack filed a lawsuit against the state in federal court for, again, acting with hostility towards his faith. And then after a few months, the state agreed to settle that case. And that case was settled. And then the third case started, which was another lawsuit by that same attorney who requested the cake celebrating the gender transition. And that was the case that was just decided recently by the Colorado Supreme Court.
<div id="attachment_815231" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-815231" class="size-large wp-image-815231" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/JackPhillips-EnoughisEnough-031921-864x576.jpg" alt="Jack Phillips. Alliance Defending Freedom." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/JackPhillips-EnoughisEnough-031921-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/JackPhillips-EnoughisEnough-031921-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/JackPhillips-EnoughisEnough-031921-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/JackPhillips-EnoughisEnough-031921.jpg 1040w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Jack Phillips. Alliance Defending Freedom.</div>
JOHN: What do we know about this activist lawyer who brought these two cases against him?
JIM: Well, this activist lawyer first called Jack&#8217;s shop back in 2012 when news first broke about his decision not to create the cake celebrating a same sex wedding. This individual called Jack a “hypocrite” and referred to Jack as a “bigot.” And then you fast forward six years later and the request is then brought asking for a pink and blue cake celebrating a gender transition. Right around that same time, that attorney made another request for a cake depicting Satan smoking marijuana. So, one thing that&#8217;s very clear is this attorney does not like Jack Phillips and is trying to harass Jack Phillips and make his life difficult.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/colorado-s-cakeshop-case-crumbles-a-free-speech-victory-saturday-extra" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LISTEN: Catch the full interview on Morning Wire.</a></h3>
JOHN: So there&#8217;s evidence that at least this attorney specifically is targeting Jack, and the state was also deemed to be acting in a hostile way against him. Can you unpack that for us a bit more?
JIM: Yes, so the U. S. Supreme Court back in 2018 found that the State of Colorado is acting with hostility towards Jack&#8217;s faith. And it pointed to a couple different things. The first is that when the state was reviewing Jack&#8217;s case, there were a number of government officials that disparaged his beliefs and compared his beliefs to the beliefs of people that basically instituted the Holocaust. And the Supreme Court also found that Jack was being treated differently than other cake artists in the state. So there were other cake shops that were asked to create cakes that were either denigrating LGBT messages, and they declined to do so, and the state didn&#8217;t punish them. But when Jack declined to create a cake celebrating a same sex wedding, he was punished. So the Supreme Court said that this unequal treatment and these disparaging comments about Jack&#8217;s faith showed that the State of Colorado was acting with hostility towards his beliefs.
JOHN: All right, so now all these years later, we have this Colorado Supreme Court ruling. And many people are saying, look, this is the end of the legal battle against Jack Phillips. What exactly did the Supreme Court rule, and is it really the end?
JIM: The Colorado Supreme Court found that this attorney that brought the lawsuit did so using the wrong procedure, so they kicked the case out for that procedural reason. We&#8217;re hopeful this is the end of the road for Jack – that people will leave him alone, that the government of Colorado will leave him alone, that activists in the state will stop harassing him with requests simply to gin up lawsuits to be able to bring against him. But ultimately we have to wait and see. I mean, our position is: Enough is enough – let&#8217;s leave Jack alone and let him live his life consistent with his religious beliefs. And the other thing that a lot of people miss about Jack is that Jack serves everyone. He serves all customers, he serves all people, but he can&#8217;t create a cake that expresses all messages. If a message conflicts with his religious beliefs, he can&#8217;t do that, but he&#8217;ll serve everyone. He serves people from the LGBT community, that&#8217;s not an issue for him. It&#8217;s only when someone — anyone — asks for something expressing a message that he disagrees with.
<div id="attachment_815233" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-815233" class="wp-image-815233 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1307578412-865x576.jpg" alt="pawel.gaul. Getty Images." width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1307578412-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1307578412-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1307578412-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1307578412-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1307578412-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1307578412-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1307578412-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />pawel.gaul. Getty Images.</div>
JOHN: Is there any chance that this ruling is appealed?
JIM: This ruling cannot be appealed because it is a question of Colorado state law and the Colorado Supreme Court is the highest authority on that issue. So this case is final, and Jack hopefully can now put behind him 12 years of non-stop litigation against him.
JOHN: Now you guys have obviously worked closely with Jack over these years. How has this impacted him personally? Has this done a lot of damage financially, professionally?
JIM: It has undermined his business in many ways. He was forced to give up his wedding business as a result of the first case, and he still hasn&#8217;t brought that back. So it has been difficult from a financial perspective because the wedding aspect of his business was a significant part. It&#8217;s also been hard on him and his family personally because they&#8217;ve experienced death threats, hostility, people coming into their shop and yelling very, very hateful messages at them. So that&#8217;s been difficult. But in the end, one thing that Jack always talks about is that this has really drawn his family closer and it has given them an appreciation in their faith, in their faith in a way that they didn&#8217;t have before. So there certainly has been some good that has come of it. But 12 years of your life just absolutely devoured by litigation and activists coming after you and state officials acting with hostility towards your faith is sure to take its toll.
JOHN: The legacy media has covered these cases at times over the course of the years. Do you feel that there’s anything that’s been missing from their coverage? What has been not emphasized enough about the nature of these cases?
JIM: They want to make this a story about Jack not serving people, when it&#8217;s really a story about Jack not wanting to express and celebrate certain messages. That&#8217;s something that is absolutely lost, when many in the media talk about Jack&#8217;s case. And that&#8217;s something that we try to be very, very clear about. Jack serves everyone. Doesn&#8217;t matter who you are. The question is: what are you asking him to communicate through that custom cake? And if it&#8217;s a message that conflicts with his beliefs, then it&#8217;s not something he&#8217;s able to do.
JOHN: Does this string of cases impact precedent in terms of legal expectations for people across the country in any way?
JIM: I think one of the cases that&#8217;s in the background in all of these matters is one that was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court just last year, called 303 Creative. And the 303 Creative case involved a graphic designer, and in that case the graphic designer objected to creating a custom web page celebrating a same sex wedding. And the Supreme Court said that the state of Colorado couldn&#8217;t force her to do that. That principle is very, very important, and it&#8217;s a principle that provides lasting protection, not only for graphic designers, like the one in that case, but also for custom cake artists like Jack Phillips, as well as wedding photographers – and many others. So, I think that that case, 303 Creative, provides significant ongoing protection for creative professionals that want to operate consistent with their beliefs and don&#8217;t want to be forced to express messages that they disagree with. But in terms of this decision from the Colorado Supreme Court in Jack&#8217;s most recent case, it really just decides a question of Colorado state procedure. But it&#8217;s the 303 Creative decision that provides that lasting protection.
JOHN: Now that 303 Creative was another one of the cases you guys were involved with. Do you have other cases in the works now that are similar to Jack Phillips’ cases?
JIM: In terms of others ongoing we have another one right now where we represent a wedding photographer in New York State. She&#8217;s a wedding photographer who doesn&#8217;t want to be forced to create images that celebrate events or express messages that conflict with her beliefs – and that case is ongoing there. We represent a wedding photographer in Louisville, Kentucky, who has a similar case, where she raises similar arguments that she doesn&#8217;t want to be forced to express messages that she disagrees with. So, this is an ongoing issue. There is more for federal courts to decide. And we&#8217;re hopeful that they will follow what the U.S. Supreme Court said in 303 Creative, which is these creative professionals can&#8217;t be forced to express messages that they disagree with.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/colorado-s-cakeshop-case-crumbles-a-free-speech-victory-saturday-extra" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LISTEN: Catch the full interview on Morning Wire.</a></h3>
JOHN: Final question, stepping back a bit here. What is the larger takeaway, in your view, from this string of cases against Jack Phillips and their results?
JIM: I think it shows that there&#8217;s a lot of hostility towards people of faith. The government didn&#8217;t need to pick up this first case and treat it, Jack differently than it was treating other cake artists, but it did. And the only reason that we can come up with for why they would do that is the hostility towards his beliefs. The reason why this activist attorney concocted this request to ask for a custom cake celebrating a gender transition was because of hostility towards Jack&#8217;s faith. So at the end of the day, I believe what these cases show is that there&#8217;s a lot of hostility for people that simply want to quietly live their life consistent with their beliefs, and that&#8217;s unfortunate. And we hope that this is the end of the road for people doing that to Jack Phillips. And we hope more broadly that people throughout our society see that we should be allowing people to live according to their beliefs, and we don&#8217;t need to be harassing them and discriminating against them when they do it.
JOHN: Well, Jim, thank you so much for coming on to discuss these important cases.
JIM: Thank you.
JOHN: That was Jim Campbell, chief legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom – and this has been a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/colorado-s-cakeshop-case-crumbles-a-free-speech-victory-saturday-extra" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Saturday Extra edition of Morning Wire</a>.

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