London, England, Apr 22, 2016 / 05:01 am
As the British government considers measures to name the Islamic State's persecution of Christians and other religious minorities as genocide, Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury has urged the British Parliament to "stand with other governments and international bodies."
"We are witnessing nothing short of genocide being committed with horrifying cruelty against Christians and other minorities in the Middle East," Bishop Davies said in an April 21 statement. "Whole communities face annihilation and look to the international community for support."
His comments follow a unanimous vote in the British House of Commons April 20 in favor of referring to the violence committed by Islamic State – also known as Daesh, or ISIS – against Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria as "genocide."
The House of Lords had failed only days earlier to recognize the violence as a genocide.