Joseph DSouza

The world celebrated when news broke out that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, extremist leader of the Islamic State, was killed during a raid by U.S. special forces on his hideout compound. Baghdadi’s death, and the reported death of his second-in-command ISIS spokesperson Abu Hasan al-Muhajir, is a victory for every freedom-loving person across the world. The Islamic Caliphate he established, which at one point covered a territory as large as Britain, was a threat not only to those it imprisoned and robbed of their lives, homes, dignity and personal freedoms, but to people everywhere who might fall victim to terrorist attacks carried out by ISIS and its affiliates. Yet, even as we celebrate the demise of one of the worst terrorist leaders the world has known, we must remember the fight against extremism is far from over. In fact, we might be at the most dangerous time in the history of extremist movements as they have taken more subtle forms and infiltrated mainstream society. Allow me to explain. Whenever we think of extremism, the first thing that comes to mind is violent extremist groups like terrorist organizations such as ISIS or militant factions such as Hezbollah. Of course, their violent attacks are the most obvious displays of extremist behavior, but we must not confuse tactics for ideology. What is at the heart of every extremist movement — whether religious or secular, or on the hard right or far left — is an overarching mission to establish an authoritarian system of government that denies basic human rights such as freedom of religion or belief, freedom of speech and assembly, free enterprise and the right to own personal property, among others. While terrorist groups advance this mission through violence, [...]

CNN’s recent town hall on gay and transgender rights was a bit of an eye-opener. Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke let slip something the current presidential candidates have worked hard to hide: when put to the test, they do not support religious freedom. When asked whether religious institutions who oppose same-sex marriage should lose their tax-exempt status, O’Rourke’s answer was a straightforward “yes.” “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone, or any institution, any organization in America, that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us,” he said. Of course, savvier and more seasoned candidates were better prepared to answer questions of the same nature. Elizabeth Warren’s pithy response about what she would say to a supporter who said his faith taught marriage was between one man and one woman — “Then just marry one woman. I’m cool with that.” — became a viral sensation. Yet O’Rourke’s rookie mistake raised the question of what the presidential candidates actually believe when it comes to religious freedom. Despite Warren and Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s subsequent decision to distance themselves from O’Rourke’s comment, everything they said at the CNN town hall revealed that for them, religious liberty is, at best, a secondary right in their minds. This way of thinking presents a clear and present danger to people of faith. Take the Catholic charity Little Sisters of the Poor, who have now spent years in court because they refused to comply with an Obamacare mandate to provide contraceptives as part of their health insurance package. It wasn’t enough for them to win a Supreme Court case in 2016 or for the federal government to create an exemption for [...]

India is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. Although it is majority Hindu, it has some 200 million Muslims, as well as Sikhs, Jews.... and a native Christian population dating back 2000 years. In fact, Christianity in India has deeper roots than in America. Which is why it is an extremely disturbing fact to Bishop Joseph D'Souza of Good Shepherd church that his country has just entered the top ten list of nations where Christians are most persecuted. He blames a small band of extremist Hindus, who've painted Christians as an enemy of the state and have marketed the lie that Christians are involved in forced conversions. As President Trump this week sounded the alarm at the United Nations for countries to rally together in a shared value of religious freedom, Bishop D'Souza has the detailed forensics of why religious persecution has grown, and continues to be a threat to global peace. Listen at Fox News Radio: The Global Concern of Religious Persecution | FoxNews.com

With nearly 4 million pending cases in its court systems, India has probably one of the busiest judiciaries in the world. Yet every now and then, a local court case makes international headlines. This happened recently when a court in Kerala sentenced 10 men to life in prison for killing a man. The crime had all the hallmarks of an honor killing. A young man, a Dalit from a low caste, falls in love with a woman from a high-caste family. They plan to marry, but the girl’s family learns about it and opposes their union. When the couple files for a marriage certificate, the family decides to take action and dispatches a hit team to get rid of the soon-to-be husband. Shortly after, the young man’s body is found in a stream. Crimes of this nature have become so disturbingly common that the world barely bats an eye when they happen. But in America, which is predominantly Christian, the reaction is often, It’s just another one of those Hindu family fights over old religious traditions. Except that wasn’t the case this time. Both the young man and the woman were Christians and came from Christian families. Caste prejudice — the idea that some people are inferior or even untouchable because of their low birth — has not only survived throughout millennia, robbing millions of people of their humanity. It also has metastasized and spread beyond its original religious confines. Caste prejudice and hatred exists among Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and, yes, among Christians, too. And it exists between religions. In another recent case, a Dalit Christian man was killed by hit men hired by his wife’s father, the patriarch of an upper-caste Hindu family. The [...]

I recently had the opportunity to tour the museum of A Topography of Terror in Berlin, Germany. Located in the former headquarters of the Gestapo and Nazi Germany intelligence units, the museum outlines the rise of National Socialism and of Hitler’s Third Reich which unleashed inhuman evil on millions of people. I came to this museum because I wanted to understand once more how the German state and its great Germanic civilization could descend into such barbaric, anti-Semitic behavior. Hitler’s campaign to exterminate the Jewish people led to the systematic murder of 6 million Jews in Europe, 3 million Soviets and half a million gypsies. This terrifying extermination campaign, known as the “Final Solution,” came out of the Nazi Party’s belief that all humans are not equal — and once all humans are not equal then any kind of violence is justifiable. Humans have a great capacity for evil. Unfortunately, this dangerous belief has not been exterminated from our societies as evidenced by the present-day rise of anti-Semitism across Europe and the U.S., not to mention in the U.N. It is particularly alarming that members of the U.S. Congress would engage in anti-Semitic rhetoric and call for the destruction of the State of Israel. How can the world so quickly forget what happened barely 80 years ago? As history shows, genocides such as the one committed by the Nazis against the Jews are not committed against one people group alone but against all of humanity. We must beware of losing sight of the lessons museums such as the Topography of Terror are meant to preserve in our social consciences. For as it has been said, those who forget the mistakes of the past are doomed to [...]

Christians around the world ought to pray for Kashmir as tensions in the region have spiked since Aug. 5, when India removed its long-established “special status,” bringing the India-administered areas of Kashmir into direct control of the central government. The decision exacerbated India’s already strained relationship with Pakistan, and prompted Pakistan’s prime minister to threaten to globalize the issue and alarmingly escalate the situation by stating that, “Pakistan would keep all options on the table.” I’m calling on Indian, Pakistani and all Christians to a simple task that transcends the complexity of the issue and the enmity that has long existed between our countries because of it. Christians ought to pray to Jesus — the “Prince of Peace” — that peace would reign in our countries and in our region as God has called each of us to “seek peace and prosperity” for our countries, according to Jeremiah 29:7. The prophet continues, “Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” And I’m calling them to do so intensely. Since the British partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars over the Kashmir region. Hundreds of thousands of civilians and military officers have died on both sides of the border in armed conflicts and episodes of inter-communal violence. The last thing the region needs is another war, especially when both nations have nuclear weapons. All of this has been especially complicated in recent years by cross-border terrorism as Pakistan’s prime minister himself recently recognized that 30,000-40,000 terrorists operate on Pakistani soil. Putting it all together, in just over 25 years over 45,000 people in Jammu and Kashmir have died in cross-border militant encounters between the [...]

CHURCH LEADERS have welcomed the re-election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India, but campaigners warned that his nationalist stance could leave Christians vulnerable. The recent election, which took place in seven stages, saw 900 million people eligible to vote. The turnout at 67 per cent was the highest ever in an Indian general election and it also saw the highest participation by women. The main opponent of Mr Modi and his BJP party, Rahul Gandhi’s Indian National Congress and the United Progressive Alliance failed to secure the 10 per cent of the seats needed, meaning that India is without an official opposition party. Archbishop Joseph D’Souza, on behalf of the Good Shepherd Churches in India and All India Christian Council has congratulated His Excellency Shri Narendra Modion his historic landslide win. The Archbishop said that the members of the All India Christian Council and their churches would be praying for Shri Narendra Modi and his government ‘as he governs the nation with challenges ahead of him’. However, other Christian groups were more circumspect. Prime Minister Modi has appealed to a sense of Hindu nationalism, prompting concerns from other religious communities. Some observed that the tightening nationalist grip on India was concerning Christians, who are suffering increasing violence at the hands of extremists. Evangelical Christians warn that religious polarisation in the country is now at an all-time high. The Christian campaigning group Release International said that attacks against India’s Christian minority have more than doubled since the BJP came to power in 2014. That year, Christians suffered 147 attacks. But by the end of the BJP’s first term in office, that number had risen to 325. The Evangelical Fellowship of India said that in 2018 [...]

This week, Narendra Modi was sworn in to a second term in office, becoming the first Indian prime minister in over five decades to not only win back-to-back parliamentary elections but to do so while increasing his party’s majority. The BJP, Modi’s party, won a landslide 303 seats in parliament. As expected, Modi’s victory has drawn mixed reactions. In fact, so much so that TIME magazine ran two bewildering articles: one before the election calling the prime minister “Divider-in-Chief” and another afterward titled “Modi Has United India Like No Prime Minister in Decades.” As comical as TIME magazine’s gaffe may be, the truth is India stands at a crossroads. Other media reports have pointed to the rise of Hindu nationalism in the BJP and its threat to religious minorities. Of course, we must keep in context the reality that since independence India has been ruled by Hindu majority parties, regardless of who is in power. Coming into his second term, Prime Minister Modi has the opportunity to shape India for decades to come, but to achieve this he must work toward uniting India by taking these three steps: 1. Reach Out to Indian Muslims Modi’s first order of business should be to reach out to Indian Muslims who have suffered violence from extreme, right-wing elements, some which claim to support him and his party. The prime minister has already stated he wants his government to include and be fair to all sections of society. “We have to carry along everyone for the good of the country,” Modi said in a victory speech shortly after the election. Sadly, many candidates resorted to polarizing language during the election, stoking already existing religious tensions. In a recent example, the day [...]

This week, hundreds of foreign officials, human rights activists and NGO leaders will gather in Washington to discuss what many of us believe is the most pressing issue in the world today: religious liberty. It’s the second annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, an initiative the State Department launched last year to address the growing threat against religious liberty across the world. The ministerial is a timely effort: more than seven in 10 people in the world live in countries with high restrictions or hostilities against religion. Having been an advocate for religious liberty for decades, I am encouraged the State Department is prioritizing defending this most basic human right. The ministerial is an opportunity to recalibrate bilateral relations between nations, which for too long have been driven by economic interests at the expense of human rights. For example, despite its long and well-documented history of human rights abuses and curtailment of religious freedom, Saudi Arabia still remains in America’s good graces. I have written before about how the Saudi Kingdom has provided millions of dollars to fund mosques overseas – including in the West – while at the same time denying religious liberty to Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and other faith groups who live in the country. The disastrous conflict in Yemen combined with the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident and Washington Post columnist, seems to have finally prodded Congress to put pressure on President Trump to reevaluate America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia. Yet this doesn’t necessarily mean cutting all diplomatic relations or forsaking one of America’s key allies in the Middle East. A viable solution is including international reciprocal religious freedom laws in bilateral relations. A few years ago Rep. Dave Brat, Va., introduced in Congress the Religious Freedom International Reciprocity [...]