good morning. good morning, kansas city chief. >> good morning, sam. >> join you on stage on earth summit 2023. we're going to have a fantastic event and i believe this will be an epic event that we're going to have, that the relationships build here in the activities coming out of here will literally change the world and we need to change this world but there's so much persecution and so much difficulty that's taking place to religious people around

the world of all stripes. it's a bumper sticker and i come from the political world and if you can't get your thought down to a bumper sticker, you continue convey it and religious freedom for everybody, everywhere, all the time. that's the theme. that's what we're about. that's what we do. and the beauty of it is that this is a gold given right unfortunately is being trampled on, limited or threatened everywhere around the world. the un civil rights chart service connected a mighty and deep human right. it is the human right of which is most important to us and that is if the human right of the soul. a human right so profound and central to us that we are as humans, people will often suffer and even die for this human right. it's the right of authoritarian

regime that governments fear. if people of every faith will stand strong and together for this fundamental dignity, there's no government that -- there we go. 80% of the people in the world identify with a faith or religion. no government can put down 80% of their people. another point, if we don't respect each other's freedom of religion, we will have the clash of civilizations. we are already seeing this where civilizations clash and underneath the pinnings of that are religions that are in clash. ours is a huge task.

weir gathering for the abused and beaten and killed minorities that are evenny now huddled in secret places yearing with all their heart to worship god the way they believe they should. and is that too much to ask? they're well tasked part of the inhair tans and try to free a soul from tyranny and literally change the world and it's a noble cause and it's unusual and uncommon but let's get about it and change the world. welcome to earth summit 2023. [ applause ].

i hope we get fantastic speakers to come in and enlightedden and educate our speakers. we've done that . i hope that friends and fellow activist arnold the world can join us to be an international religious freedom summit that . too has come to pass. alleviation of suffering and strengthening networks of support and compassion.

i am optimistic because optimism is a quality of hope, that in fact some will be remembered and the check slovakian he had a muscular and heroic disposition and hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well. my friends, i have a deep certainty that our work to defend and advance freedom of

religion, conscious and belief for everyone, everywhere all the time makes profound sense. in fact it makes more sense than almost any worthy cause we can dedicate ourselves to. we are as my colleague said fighting for the most fundamental of human rights. the right for each of us to live our lives in accordance with the dictates of our own conscious. we know that societies that do a good job of protecting that first freedom also protect that societies are more interestingly and most importantly women do better in these societies. so we can have that certainty that what we are doing in his words make sense. what about the rest of the

definition? we claim hope for the worthy endeavor regardless of how things turn out. just in the last few days we've been talking about tragedies around the world. one that resinates in great score row with me is the massacre, the intentional massacre of nine believers in one area drived out of their mosque and one by one ordered to renounce their faith or face death. each one of them stayed true to their faith and was murdered, massacred in front of the eyes of their families and friends.

you and i have anchored our life to the knowledge and word of something that's true. we're doing that at the wonderful summit. and i truly believe that in that sense we can have hope and the trees we are sewing and cultivating will bear fruit in time and with that said, let's get to work. thank you so much.

>> thanks to all of you. it's better to be here today. i was picking up my bicep that was torn. getting a little bit older and thank you for having me. i'm pope francis once said that religious freedom is a fundamental human rightsthe

foreign policy and the united states must continue to be a voice through the voiceless and persecuted for their beliefs and proud when the congress reauthorized the united states commission on international religious freedom last year. i want to thank the commission for the important work and religious freedom remain increasingly under assault around the world. in china and the chinese communist parties conduct all out assault on religion. as we speak here today they're

attempting to dismantle the tibeten buddhism and dallas dally llama andwe build togethen afghanistan, the situation has declined rapidly since the united states and of course it's

the women in afghanistan that really suffer the most and women no longer are sights and must remain -- have rights and must remain fully covered outside of their homes and can't go to school or even go outside without a male companion. it's heart breaking to me to see what their lives have become. the women in afghanistan unfortunately aren't alone in their suffering. iran continues to persecute women under the guides of religion. i'm proud of the women that have taken to the streets to bravely protest the iranian regime and

demand from dom and all those -- freedom and all those listening, we stand with you. in africa, open doors reported in january of this year that nigeria accounted for nearly 90% of the total number of christians killed and kidnapped worldwide in 2022. here in our hemisphere, the regime in nicaragua continues to attack the catholic church and priests including bishop alvarez for speaking out in support of religious freedom and human rights. tragically still on the rise and last week people were killed and attacked on a synagogue in jerusalem.

this improves holocaust generations and equipped and stand up for that right. she's shining the religious freedom around the world and includes holding perpetrators accountable. we have advanced policies to protect the persecuted. we must help america with family and friends that have been persecuted for their faith. protecting religious freedom isn't just doing what's right but a matter of conflict and

religious freedom, conflict recedes and in closing i'd like to read a quote from one of my favorites, st. john paul ii. it was always inspiring when he said the whole of society as well as of the personal fulfillment of each individual. i want to thank all of you hear again today and let's stand for religious freedom, thank you. >> good morning, he can be. i'm congressman jim mcgovern from massachusetts and i want thank the foundation for inviting me to say a few words

at the international religious freedom summit and i'm honored to be here with my good friend the foreign affairs committee chairman mike mccaul. we may be of different parties but we have a lot of common ground and work together especially on the issues of human rights and happy to be here with everyone. we appreciate your commitment to the issues. for the past several years, i have cochaired the tom lantis human rights,s in the house of representatives and hope to have that in the 118th congress. in that capacity, i can tell you the right to freedom of thought, conscious, and religion is most often taken up in hearing ands religion. the right to practice is frequently violated by governments all over the world. some examples that immediately come to mind will be loved by

everyone. in burma. the high in iran and muslims and freedom of religion and i'm very aware that my right to freedom of religion is only as strong as that of my muslim or hindu due or buddhist neighbor. unless the right to freedom of religion exists for everyone, it doesn't truly exist for anyone. the question that brings us together on this panel is why

international religious freedom is not for everyone. americans value that very high supply a fundamental right guaranteed for the own constitution and alongside the rightses to tree dom of speech and assembly. religious freedoms are under attack and country with repression and norm and the other question is how best to promote the right to freedom of religion and here's my view. first we should lead by example. this summit is focused on international religious freedom but we cannot expect other countries to take us seriously unless we're addressing threats to religious freedoms. anti-semitism on the rise in the united states and the right is

separated out the religious >> i minorities and freedoms and

others. when we bridge ledge one re-i didn't imagine lon at the expense of others we open the door to discrimination and imposing the beliefs of some on those who think differently. to political leaders using their power to dictate one religion with the force of law. that kind of behavior is the very definition of the rights of religious freedom. one deadly example of religious intolerance. yesterday friends of the amadeah muslim community told me about the cold-blooded execution of nine people last july 11.

>> my family came to this country escaping religious persecution in india. right now we're seeing immense persecution in india on the basis of religious indifference in india and other parts of the world.

i had a conversation with my uber driver who was from afghanistan and what we know now is that a few decades ago there were 200,000 people in afghanistan, now there's 9. not 900 or 9,000, there's nine. it's on the basis of religious persecution and this is what's on my heart today as it is with many of you with the communities you work with and serve. part of what you raise here and part of what we're thinking about is when we're looking at places like afghanistan or china or nicaragua, iran, we see how the privileging of a single religious community can come at the expense of other communities. and we can also see how

privileging other human rights can lead to other kinds of oppression and violence and you raise this in your remarks and i'd love to hear from you if these are the antidotes to these kinds of experiences around the world. we can serve as an example of doing a better job regarding rivers intolerance and execution in this country. doing it most likely and to those who say there's not much we can co. i disagree with that. i think we can be a model. second thing is being more consist in our advocacy for not

just religious freedom rights but human rights in general. i worry sometimes as much as the united states that we pick and choose where we want to express our outrage and often times in countries where we have strategic interest or economic interest and standing for human rights and we need to be consist and we need -- are not always consist and we need to do a better job of being -- having the backs of those who are being persecuted and helping uplift and there's a program in the commission called the prisoners of conscious campaign and many people are arrested all over the

world. their conscious because of religion and i think the deal is we need to be consist and we need to be all inclusive and we need to use our voices to demand that things change that we respect everybody for what they believe and who they are. >> go back to something you mentioned in your remarks and the speaker's race was contentious and more that i want. >> i see that. >> you mentioned china and that is an area where there's clear bipartisan support. i appreciate as the former chair of international religious freedoms and speaker pelosi's outspoken support for minorities, religious minorities in china. there's support there but there's a growing concern with

china exporting their technology and their repressive means to other countries, even in this hemisphere and as chairman of the foreign affairs what's going on in the way that has human rights and religious freedom and they're influencing many other countries arnold the globe. how does that factor to your issue going forward. muslims with what they're doing for them with slave labor and talking about solar panels, batteries and most of that's being manufactured in the province where they commit genocide and they have bio-metrics to follow certain people in china. organ transplants and sedate them and they're horrific and

some of the stories i hear coming out of the region not to mention jim and i have been very involved with the dalai lama and tibeten was kicked out of china and the tibetens were as well. we know that history of catholic priests in china and what you're referring to is a belt and road initiative and they're in 140 countries around the world now basically bringing their technology, their surveillance and they go in to these countries and they get them into a trap and take the rarest minerals and bring their own workers in and typically the countries default on their debt, imf bails them out and they get access to a port or military base. a good example, tony, right now in afghanistan, china now is trying to get leases to

$1 trillion of lithium rarest minerals and what happened in afghanistan and seeing china there is very unfortunate. whey see also is the idea that we export our technology to china that allows them to build their most advanced weapon system and when i talk about that, i'm talking about their hypersonic weapons for instance. the one that can circle the globe with precision and land with a nuclear warhead and built on the backbone of american technology and we need to stop doing this. you know, the oppression is real. the right now we're looking at something i don't think we've seen since world war ii and that's the largest invasion in europe since world war ii and now since the ccp chairman xi looking at taiwan that's there and they once overthrow a little bit and suppress the people a

little bit and religious freedom in the region of the world with war crimes and jim and i work hard on the war crimes bill that we got passed. raising the national defense authorization bill that's a great step forward and the religious persecution with the muslims and muslims to be persecuted in pakistan as well. >> i'd appreciate that and offer a question if you're open to it. you invoked putin talking about china with representative governor. might be representing the call and religious freedoms is a national security issue.

i think if we're looking at what's happening in the world right now, it's absolutely true and also there is a economic question and i think that often plays into are we willing to hold accountable. are we not and i would love to hear you reflect on that with the religious persecution regardless of economic potential in addition to do the national security question. >> well, on the economic side, i think it's important that we have to compete with a global power competition and you have four nations, russia, china, iran, north carolina. iran and north korea are giving drones and artillery into ukraine and it gives freedom and

democracy in the west. one of my favorites is such a champion for human rights. what would reagan do in ukraine? he would fight for the oppressed against the oppressor, i believe, and he brought down the soviet union and -- soviet uniton and in terms of economic freedom, we have to be present and on the field in africa. whistled talk to african ambassadors and they say you're not here. the united states is not investigating in africa, which will be the largest populated continent in the next decade. it's a question of american investment that we can compete in the great power struggle. this is a struggle for the global balance of power in my judgment and the which i am the ties are just -- economic ties are just as important as security ties and we have the finest corporation and other things to move forward and jim

and i are working on ways to move this forward because when you lift the economic situation and do that in central america and here in southwest florida, hitting the root cause of that and 85% are for economic reasons and some for political and some for religious freedoms but the economic conditions, if we can look as president kennedy said rising tide. >> i agree with what the chairman said mostly as you just said. i would just say that, you know, i think we need to raise the human rights at every level. not just a human rights conferences and not just the conferences that talk about religious freedoms and talk about investorring in other parts of the world and be respect for human rights and can't persecute people and to be

honest i've been around for a long time and democratic and republican administrations and it becomes uncomfortable and chairman mentioned the work we did and i'll be honest with you and very much opposed to it and it's not an easy thing is note entrenched on enslaved labor and could do it in the end in a bipartisan way and that's important and not underestimate there's forces who will talk the talk on human rights but not walk the walk. how do you keep economic pressure off even when it's

uncomfort and will an ally or someone we have strong economic ties with. as i said in my opening remarks, if you don't, you're going to end up -- the country that oppresses their people. >> could not agree more and there's a role for american consumers looking at what's coming out of china and businesses exploiting the work forces and i want to go -- we've just got a few minutes left and i want to throw something and not blow everything up. talk about nigeria, you mentioned it, chairman, when i was serving as chair or commission we were for the first time as recommendation able to see nigeria listed as of

particular concern. governor, you mentioned religious freedoms and when this administration pulled back saying no, it's more of an issue of scarcity of resources and an overlap, how do we address religious hostility aspect that omits the other issues and might be economic resource issues as well. >> economic conditions are so bad that it breeds terrific prism that's a -- terrorism and that's a component of that and

the great powerful country. ... you have to sit down without that this is something that tim

and i worked on. it's rare you can pass a bill in congress knowing you were going to save the life and pepfar with 50 million wide. all the things we do help with malnutrition really is and what i taught as a catholic and the message of. it's like the missionary life and i think governance and behavior are in the program. >> you know i agree. i can't believe i'm agreeing with my chairman. i think tony hugh mentioned it's not just religious freedom issues but there are other issues as other issues as well in the challenge we have is to make sure when we address all of the issues. and i'm thinking of nicaragua right now. the priests that are being

targeted by the ortega regime. they are targeted not just because they are priests that the people being targeted are the people standing up and protesting their faith and their legions to justice and fairness in human rights. so it's not just religion. it's also what they are standing for or in india the case of -- he died in custody. that's been labeled an example of persecution. i think that's true. he was arrested under antiterrorism laws being used to quite frankly threaten the rights of a whole range of people. so i think we don't want to under emphasized religious freedom aspect of some of these trouble places but they don't want to over emphasize either that and away it might promote more sectarianism order they may

not be able to solve the real issues. if we look at this realistically it's one thing that has to be part of the discussion and when we do that we will have success and make progress. this world is a really troubled place right now and even in our own country we have troubling issues and polarization and violence. there's a way out of this and i think any the people in this room and a very diverse family he -- panel here and we probably wouldn't agree on lunch with your rear coming together and focusing on issues being more forthright and to be more corrective. anyway thank you. statement congress -- congressman mcgovern and chairman chairman mccaul we please thank our congressmen for being here [applause]

>> like all of my colleagues particularly in new york state i support george santos is the nominee and the people of his district voted to elect him. now we just go to the conference

and george voluntarily removed himself from committees as he goes through this process. i'm very proud in new york state we flipped a district to deliver up the majority and ultimately voters made this decision and congress congress. again this process is going to play itself up out for that party commented on this numerous times and again it will play itself up a ultimately voters to ultimately voters make their decision whether it's in a primary election or the general election. thank you. >> i'm just struck by the chaos and confusion and dysfunction of the republican conference today defending putting him on committees and now they are announcing he's not going to serve on committees so i don't understand what the play of the day is. we have said from the very beginning that george santos is not fit to serve on committees. republicans defended him

initially and they announced his committee appointments. so please that they agree with this now but i don't know if we can trust them. this is just the decision of the week or if this is the final decision. clearly george santos has some issues and concerns and this is likely the outcome of this meeting with the speaker. but it's unfortunate when republicans are put in a position to defend someone who only has a passing relationship with the truth and we will see what the message is related to mr. santos for next week. >> i also urged george santos to listen to his republican and democratic constituents and resign from congress.

the state of the union is strong because you the american people are strong. [applause]

>> welcome to the bipartisan polling center to release the report from title making food nutritionists and food security snap as recommendations for the