c. 1996 Religion News Service

(Charles W. Colson, former special counsel to Richard Nixon, served a prison term for his role in the Watergate scandal. He now heads Prison Fellowship International, an evangelical Christian ministry to the imprisoned and their families. Contact Colson via e-mail at 71421.1551(AT)compuserve.com.)

(RNS)-President Clinton has shown admirable solidarity with beleaguered people around the world, whether in war-torn former Yugoslavia, politically unstable and thoroughly impoverished Haiti, or Africa, where multiple horrors are under way.

There is another case that begs his urgent attention, one that is symbolic of what I consider the chief human-rights issue of our day: the worldwide persecution of Christians.

The case in question involves a Kuwaiti convert to Christianity named Robert Hussein, who is now on trial for apostasy-that is, for abandoning Islam. He has already suffered greatly. His wife has left him, and he has been denied visitations to his children. He was even forbidden the opportunity to attend his father’s funeral.

Yet if he is convicted, his future will be much worse, though probably not of long duration. As explained by Reuters correspondent Inal Ersan:”In Islam any sane (Muslim) who renounces his religion, and persists in doing so after being allowed a chance to repent, loses a range of rights. Islam provides no penalty for any (Muslim) who kills the convert on the grounds of his apostasy.” Clearly, the time to act is now.

All should understand that, in normal circumstances, President Clinton would have few options. We are talking here, after all, about the religious self-determination of states.

But Kuwait is a different matter, for that country’s government owes its very existence to the United States, pure and simple. We not only restored the emir to his throne, but also maintain a tripwire military contingent to keep Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guards at bay. We have what the diplomats call leverage, and plenty of it.

Let us recall the sacrifice that allowed President George Bush to move from his famous”This will not stand”promise to his equally stirring declaration of victory following Operation Desert Storm:”Kuwait is liberated.” Indeed, Bush called this decisive military action”a victory for the United Nations, for all mankind, for the rule of law, and for what is right.” A total of 146 Americans were killed in that war, while another 354 were wounded. All told, according to the Pentagon, the war cost American taxpayers $7.4 billion. And while the Gulf War was billed as a United Nations effort, and indeed featured a wide coalition of anti-Saddam forces, it was primarily American muscle that drove Saddam back to Baghdad. It is the threat of American retaliation that keeps him there.

The Clinton administration says it”has done something”to let the Kuwaiti government know of its interest in Robert Hussein’s fate, though it is not releasing details. I would suggest that the president get deeply involved here, not only to spare Hussein-which is reason enough to get involved-but to stake out a position on the persecution of Christians, which proceeds apace in many countries.

This extensive type of persecution is the subject of an article by Joseph R. Gregory in the current issue of the journal First Things. His article,”African Slavery 1996,”points out that the worst offenders are Sudan and Mauritania, which, according to Christian Solidarity International, hold tens of thousands of Christians in slavery.”These facts are well known to western governments and to the United Nations,”Gregory charges.”Yet they have failed to ignite the popular indignation that fired the abolitionist and anti-apartheid movements.” Meanwhile, Chinese Christians in the house-church movement continue to suffer, and the administration offers nary a peep of protest.

President Clinton, himself a church-going Baptist who has spoken movingly of his faith, has promised the National Association of Evangelicals that his administration is not only concerned about the persecution of Christians, but will take whatever actions it can to halt the practice.

The Hussein case offers the perfect opportunity. If I were designing the strategy, I would have the president call the emir of Kuwait and say, in effect,”Let my people go.” I would remind his excellency that he sits upon his golden throne only because of the ultimate sacrifice made by 146 young Americans and the expenditure of American billions. I would, indeed, remind the emir that without our sacrifice, he would be just another deposed autocrat cooling his heels in some foreign port, where the only reminder of his former glory would be seen in the bowing and scraping of his hired retainers.

If the emir refuses to let Robert Hussein go, then Clinton might take a page from an earlier time when Pharaoh refused Moses’ command to free his people, which resulted in a plague being visited upon the Egyptian ruler. This time, it would not be a plague of frogs or blood but of Saddam Hussein’s agents, who would surely visit the emir were we to withdraw our support.

In the meantime, all Americans who are concerned about human rights must also step into the act by pressuring their government representatives to speak out on Robert Hussein’s behalf, and on behalf of the nameless others who suffer for their faith. In a nation divided by its own contentious issues, we can all agree that freedom of conscience is the first freedom.

MJP END COLSON