FRC's Tony Perkins: Obama Administration Needs to Do More For Persecuted Christians Domestically, Abroad

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins recently suggested that the Obama administration has done little to help persecuted Christians abroad, especially in areas where they face persecution by the Islamic State terror group.

Perkins, a former member of the Louisiana Legislature, made his comments in a recent email sent to followers of the Family Research Council, a Washington D.C.-based conservative lobbying group.

In the email, Perkins argued that the president's failure to deter religious persecution domestically contributes to the persecution of Christians worldwide.

"Ask Christian Wives, mothers and daughters overseas. Their husbands, sons and fathers are being beheaded or shot by radical Islamic jihadists like ISIS. They are being driven from their homes. Children are being martyred," Perkins explained. "And our administration has done little to help, and for months resisted calling this massacre of Christians by Islamic jihadists what it is."

Perkins referenced a recent Senate subcommittee hearing last month, in which he argued that limiting religious freedom in the U.S. hurts religious freedoms internationally.

"As General [Jerry] Boykin and I testified before the United Nations on Friday April 17, our administration's persecution of Christians within our borders is emboldening the attack on Christians worldwide," Perkins continued. "Why would Islamic butchers fear our government, or believe the United States would defend Christians elsewhere when they do nothing to help Christians under attack for their faith right here in America?"

A Christian watchdog group, Open Doors USA, recently called on the Obama administration to acknowledge religiously-motivated extremism aboard.

Open Doors USA President David Curry said in a statement that the administration must do more to help international Christians following a video released by the Islamic State that shows 30 Ethiopian Christians being executed on the shores of the Mediterranean.

"We have been warning Western governments for months that a religious genocide of Christians was taking place. While we welcome the White House acknowledgment that these victims were targeted because of their faith, much more needs to be done," the watchdog group said in a joint statement with The Simon Weisenthal Center.