Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom Heads of Delegation lunch.

Transcript

[Female Speaker] Your excellencies, please welcome the White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, and Pastor Andrew Brunson.

Good afternoon. I hope you’ve had an excellent morning. It has been full of, I think, great announcements and action plans to move forward in this very important area. So we’re honored to have at this luncheon, then, the acting Chief of Staff for President Trump, Mick Mulvaney, a strong supporter of religious freedom. As many of you may know as well, he’s the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, he was actually born near here in Alexandria, Virginia, but was raised in the Carolinas, went to the Georgetown School of Foreign Services and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. After practicing law, he served in the South Carolina House of Representatives and Senate before he was elected to Congress in 2010, and then later was called into the Trump administration. His presence here reiterates President Trump and his administration’s strong belief in fighting for religious freedom. And we’re so glad he’s joined us here today. Please welcome Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. (applause) Thanks, Mick. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Sam. It’s good to be back this year at the second Ministerial. For those you who don’t know how it works when you’re the Chief of Staff-

Hi, ambassador.

Hi, Callista. When you run around during the day and you walk out the door, you say, “Where am I going next?” They say, “Oh, you’re going to the Ministerial,” they hand you what you’re supposed to say and you read it in the car on the way over. And what they’ve presented for me is quite nice, it’s quite lovely. I’m not going to read it. It does go into a lot of wonderful things about the history of our nation and the way that religious liberty is intrinsically tied to the founding of the nation, to the growth of the nation, to the success of the nation, and I wish I could read the whole thing, but I’m not going to. I want to talk a little bit about why I’m here this year and why I was here last year. Knowing what I know about government, and many of you here are in various governments, you know that things like this don’t happen by accident. And I’m not just talking about the logistics of getting everybody in the same place and getting everybody fed. I’m talking about the commitment that it takes to pull this off. These things don’t happen unless folks very high up in the government say, “I want this to happen.” And the reason that we’re here again this year, for the second time, and the reason that I think, or at least I hope, that it’s so successful, is that the President of the United States is absolutely committed to this. The Vice President of the United States is absolutely committed to this. Mike Pompeo, a good friend of mine– in fact, I see Senator James Langford in the audience as well– James and Michael and I came into Congress together in 2010. And for those of us who have known Secretary Pompeo for the last decade, know his heart is in this type of thing. And that commitment flows all the way through the administration. For those of you who were here last year, you may remember– there’s no reason for you to, because I wasn’t that good at what I did– but I was here, and I was here in my role as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, which is an office that none of you should have ever heard of before. But the reason I wanted to come was on behalf of all of the men and women in the United States government for whom this is an important thing. And that every single day, there are people you have never heard about in the United States government trying to work on the issues of religious persecution, religious freedom, religious liberties. This goes on every single day in the United States government, and the proof of it is here. And I can tell you that it’s there every single day. And it’s not just with everybody, I’ll talk about the President very briefly and then I’ll sit down. One of the things really neat about my job is I see the President every single day, and I get to see what really goes on in the White House. I get to stuff after the cameras are turned off, I get to see the stuff that doesn’t end up in the newspaper, so I get to see what he talks to President Urduan on the phone, and talks to President Urduan about religious liberties. “How are you treating this group?” “What’s up with Ambassador Brunson?” Excuse me, “With Pastor Brunson?” “Why are you still holding him? We need to fix this.” “If you don’t do this, we are going to do things to you as a penalty.” I get to see what happens on behind the scenes, and then we get to see the benefit of that. Pastor Brunson is here. You’ll get a chance to hear from him in a little bit. I get to see him when he comes in with President El-Sisi of Egypt, who comes in, we’ll talk about various things that are going on, and at the end of the meeting the President will say, “Now let’s talk about the cops for a second.” “Let’s talk about what we’re doing there.” And the Vice President will then say, “Yes, let’s talk about that a little bit.” And then he’ll go down the row of all of the men and women on our team, who get a chance to raise this issue at the very highest levels. I’m on the phone with the President when he’s talking to His Holiness the pope. These are things you don’t see on TV. These are things that you won’t read about in the newspaper. They’re not bad news stories, so they really don’t get any coverage. But it happens here every single day. In just the last couple of weeks, I’ve had a chance to meet in my office with representatives from both Christians and both Shia and Sunni in Lebanon. I’ve had a chance to meet with a representative of the House of Lords. I’ve had a chance to meet with the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in North America, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Maronite Right in Lebanon. These folks are here every single day on this particular issue. These things work. We’ve seen the fruits of these labors. We’ve seen what happens when we get together to do it. And I just hope if you leave here, and when you leave here, the one thing you take away from this meeting is that as long as Donald Trump is in the White House, as long as Michael Pence is Vice President, as long as Mike Pompeo is the Secretary of State, and as long as there are people like Callista and James and myself working for this government, religious liberties will continue to be one of the highest priorities. So with that, I’ll thank you for coming today, I’ll thank you for your participation, and I’ll give you back to the ambassador. Thank you.

Thanks, Mick, and thanks for the leadership in the White House. He mentioned somebody that I want to recognize in particular: Senator James Lankford out of Oklahoma is the lead, really, person in the US Senate on religious freedom issues. A dear friend and a great colleague in the past. But he’s here, and thanks for joining us Senator Lankford. Next, it’s my pleasure to introduce to you a pastor whose name you’ve heard already today, and is known around the world. Pastor Andrew Brunson and his wife Norine were American missionaries serving in Turkey. In October, 2016, Pastor Brunson and his wife were taken by Turkish authorities and sent to a detention facility. Norine was released shortly. Andrew remained in custody, eventually charged with false and specious charges. The United States government continuously advocated on his behalf, and despite continued calls from the US for Pastor Brunson’s release, the Turkish government refused to let him free. At last year’s Ministerial, their daughter Jacqueline spoke powerfully about her father sitting in prison while Vice President Pence demanded his release. Soon, President Trump took to action, sanctioning Turkish leadership and putting tariffs on their most important exports. Yesterday, I had the privilege of bringing 28 survivors of religious persecution to the White House to meet with President Trump, and among them: Pastor Andrew Brunson. Thanks to the bold leadership and action of President Trump, Andrew is now a free man. And now it’s my pleasure to introduce him to you, a free man and a friend, Pastor Andrew Brunson.

Thank you. I think I must be the happiest person in this room today. Yes, on July 18, one year ago today, I was standing in a Turkish courtroom for my third trial session, accused of terror crimes. And at the end of the day a year ago, I was sent back to maximum security prison to wait for my next trial session three months away. Just a few days after that, my daughter spoke on my behalf, as you heard, at the first Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. And I’m very proud of my daughter, but I’m glad that she’s not speaking at this second Ministerial. I should say, rather, I’m glad that she doesn’t have to or need to speak at this Ministerial because I can be here instead. It was at last year’s Ministerial that Vice President Pence publicly passed on a very strong warning to the Turkish government from President Trump, and when Turkey didn’t release me, President Trump followed up by taking the unprecedented step of imposing sanctions on an ally. Yesterday, an Iranian woman mentioned to me that seeing how the president fought for me gave hope to many people in Iran. That the most powerful man in the world would go to such lengths to help me, an unknown person, it sent a very strong message. So my story is one of hope, an example of what can happen when a government cares about religious freedom. And it made all the difference for me and I’m so grateful to this administration. At the same time, my story is one of religious persecution. The Turkish government accused me of being a spy. They kept me in prison for two years, and eventually they declared me guilty of terrorism and gave me a prison sentence. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which can take only 30 cases a year worldwide, concluded that the Turkish authorities targeted and arrested me on the basis of my nationality and my faith. They confirmed that I was a victim of religious persecution. My trial also shows this pretty clearly. My crime was Christianization, acting as, I quote, “an agent of unconventional and psychological warfare under the guide of an Evangelical church pastor.” I’m probably the only person who’s been convicted of terrorism in this room, the only terrorist. Are you afraid? No, I hope not. But, supposedly all of our church work was intended to fragment Turkey and split it into pieces. And they associated Christianization with terrorism and presented Christianity as a danger to Turkey’s unity. Of course, I’m not a spy, I’m not a terrorist. I spent 25 years in Turkey telling people the good news about Jesus Christ and serving the humanitarian needs of refugees, and I did this clearly and openly before the Turkish authorities. Nor is Christianity a political threat. I expect faith in Jesus to make people better citizens who will pray for their leaders, who will obey the laws of the land, who will love their fellow citizens. Even though we suffered in Turkey, my wife and I have no regrets that we went there, and we continue to love the Turkish people. I especially want to meet those among you who are leaders from Muslim countries. Even today, I would like that opportunity. And I say this as a friend, as one who loves Muslims. At the same time, I do not try to hide that my call is to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, because I believe he is the only way to salvation. I spent 25 years in Turkey not to undermine the country, but to bring blessings from God there. And I’m certain that God wants to bless you and your countries as well. And I would love to pray with you, and pray for you. So religious freedom is all too rare, and so many people suffer persecution because of their beliefs. At this Ministerial, we’ve heard stories of terrible suffering. And the Bible says that Jesus will return to establish his Kingdom at the end of this age, and then there will be justice and he will make all things right. So I want to end by underlining this truth, especially for you who are leaders. One day, you will stand before God. And this should be a very sobering thought. I think if more people had the fear of God that this truth warrants, there would be much less persecution. And as one who has lived in the Middle East, and this is my area of special interest, and one who loves Muslims, I especially say this to the leaders who have come from Muslim countries. There is very little freedom of religion in Muslim countries, as defined by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But tremendous blessing will come to your countries as you increase freedom of religion. And I say to all, God wants to use you to bless your people. He has put you in positions of authority and of influence. He’s given you responsibility, also, to use that authority well. May he show you how you can best serve your people. May he use you as peacemakers. May you live your lives so that you have no cause for regret when you stand before God. I say again, I welcome the opportunity to build relationship with you and to pray for you, and I would like to pray now. My God, I pray for the persecuted, that you show yourself to them and intervene supernaturally even today on their behalf, and perform miracles of deliverance with your long arm. I ask for breakthroughs even today. And I pray for the leaders in this room. Send your truth and light, and may your truth and light guide them to promote justice, to correct oppression. May they speak out for those who are silenced. May they lead righteously and defend the rights of the needy in their country. And bless their work, bless their families, bless their health, and show your hand in their lives. I bless you in the name of my king, Jesus Christ. Thank you.