Washington, DC- In Defense of Christians (IDC), the nation’s leading advocacy organization for Christians and religious minorities in the Middle East and Africa, convened its 2020 Summit: Combating Global Christian Persecution, on Wednesday, September 23, 2020.

The 2020 Summit showcased IDC’s achievements in 2019-2020 and highlighted the bipartisan 2020 recipients of the Congressional Champions Award.

The Summit was hosted by Tracy Sabol, Lead Anchor at EWTN Nightly News and was co-chaired by Representative Anna Eshoo (CA-18) and Representative Jeff Fortenberry (NE-1).

Senator James Lankford (Oklahoma) and United States Agency for International Development Acting Administrator John Barsa addressed the Summit attendees in live time. Representative Dan Crenshaw (TX-2) addressed the Summit attendees from in-studio.

Other speakers included: His Beatitude Cardinal Al-Rai, Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch; His Eminence Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York; Senator Chris Van Hollen (Maryland); Senator Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee); and Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17).

“IDC was proud to commend President Donald J. Trump for his executive order on international religious freedom. He and his administration deserve credit for making international religious freedom a foreign policy priority. Their response to global Christian persecution has been historic. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also deserve credit for leading the historic Congressional recognition of the Armenian Christian Genocide,” said IDC President Toufic Baaklini.

“It was our duty to highlight injustices faced by our persecuted brothers and sisters across the globe. Moving forward, we are going to prioritize the appointment of a Special Envoy to monitor Christian persecution in Nigeria; sanctions on Turkey for state-sponsored Christian persecution; and a robust U.S. response to the current crisis in Lebanon, the last bastion of Christianity in the Middle East,” he added.

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