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House Speaker Mike Johnson called on the Biden administration Wednesday to enforce provisions protecting Uyghur Muslims in China, saying the religious minority faces a genocidal campaign and “this should not be a partisan issue.”
Speaking at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, Mr. Johnson drew applause for condemning China’s oppression of the Uyghurs, who are subjected to forced labor, re-education and torture. Uyghur women “are subjected to heinous violence I won’t bear to repeat this morning,” he said.
He also noted the repression of religious believers in North Korea, Nigeria, Nicaragua and Cuba. In addition to persecuting Uyghurs, China targets Tibetan Buddhists and members of the Falun Gong movement for imprisonment in forced labor camps and for organ harvesting, he added.
“At this moment, the U.S. has an opportunity and an obligation to prevent genocide and punish those who committed it,” said Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican.
The House speaker opened the summit Wednesday morning by recounting his work as a litigator for Alliance Defending Freedom, a public interest law firm specializing in religious liberty cases.
“I devoted most of my adult life in my career to the defense of religious freedom,” Mr. Johnson said. “I believe it’s that important.”
“While it may not be popular in today’s increasingly secular world, of course, America was founded on the ideals of religious freedom and the belief that every single person has inalienable rights,” he said. “Since our founding, of course, America has been the greatest proponent for religious freedom around the world because we were founded on that ideal.”
Mr. Johnson pointed to language in the Declaration of Independence and the First Amendment to underline America’s heritage of religious liberty.
“We like to say around here that religious liberty is quite literally our first freedom, [it] is listed first in the Bill of Rights: ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’” he said. “These ideals come from the self-evident truth that men and women are created by God and that it is God, not the government, that gives us our rights.”
Mr. Johnson also addressed the Hamas terrorist incursion in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked a global uptick in antisemitic incidents and attacks.
“We’ve seen a frightening and seemingly coordinated rise of antisemitism, including here on our own shores,” he said. “It has been alarming. Now is the time, just a few days after Holocaust Remembrance Day, to stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters and recommit to the promise we made decades ago: Never again.”
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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