Indiana 2025 Regular Session

Indiana Senate Bill SCR0008 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1		-	~~April 1~~, 2025
	1	+	February 20, 2025
2	2		SENATE CONCURRENT
3	3		RESOLUTION No. 8
4	4		DIGEST OF RESOLUTION
5	5		A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION condemning religious
6	6		persecution worldwide.
7	7		Holdman, Alting, Niezgodski, Deery
8	8		(HOUSE SPONSOR — LEHMAN)
9	9		February 3, 2025, read first time and referred to Committee on Public Policy.
10	10		February 13, 2025, reported favorably — Do Pass.
11	11		February 17, 2025, read second time, adopted by voice vote.
12	12		HOUSE ACTION
13	13		February 20, 2025, read first time and referred to Committee on Public Policy.
14		-	April 1, 2025, reported — Do Pass.
15		-	SC 8—RC 1506/DI JR April 1, 2025
	14	+	SC 8—RC 1506/DI JR February 20, 2025
16	15		First Regular Session 124th General Assembly (2025)
17	16		SENATE CONCURRENT
18	17		RESOLUTION No. 8
19	18		1 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION condemning religious
20	19		2 persecution worldwide.
21	20		3 Whereas, The International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)
22	21		4 of 1998 declared it to be United States (U.S.) policy to condemn
23	22		5 violations of religious freedom and to promote and assist other
24	23		6 governments in the promotion of the fundamental right to
25	24		7 freedom of religion;
26	25		8 Whereas, In the years following the IRFA, persecution of
27	26		9 members of various religions has continued to persist in
28	27		10 measurable amounts across all habitable continents;
29	28		11 Whereas, Christian converts face public execution in
30	29		12 Somalia, are being stoned for practicing their faith in Kenya,
31	30		13 and over 6,000 were drowned or massacred by the Boko Haram
32	31		14 and Fulani militias with little government intervention in
33	32		15 Nigeria;
34	33		16 Whereas, In Mexico, Nicaragua, and Colombia, Christian
35	34		17 church leaders have been assaulted, threatened, and in some
36	35		18 cases killed by transnational criminal organizations or
37	36		19 paramilitary armed groups attempting to intimidate and silence
38	37		20 them;
39	38		21 Whereas, In China, Buddhists and Hui Muslims face
40	39		22 tightened restrictions and expanding destruction of places of
41	40		23 worship, Christian priests are being murdered for preaching
42	41		24 the Gospel, church belongings are being confiscated and
43	42		25 burned, and members of various religions that are not
44	43		SC 8—RC 1506/DI JR 2
45	44		1 registered with the government face risks of imprisonment or
46	45		2 torture;
47	46		3 Whereas, In China's Xinjiang province, thousands of
48	47		4 Muslims have been detained for "re-education" or transferred
49	48		5 to forced labor facilities, with the Uyghur population in
50	49		6 particular being subject to official harassment, arbitrary
51	50		7 detention, and draconian laws on religious dress;
52	51		8 Whereas, In India, ten of 28 states have laws restricting
53	52		9 religious conversions, hundreds of faith-based
54	53		10 nongovernmental organizations have lost licenses or foreign
55	54		11 funding, and 170 million Muslims live in an environment of
56	55		12 constant local violence without meaningful government
57	56		13 deterrence;
58	57		14 Whereas, North Korea's songbun system classifies citizens
59	58		15 based on their perceived loyalty to the state and places
60	59		16 religious practitioners within the "hostile" class, considering
61	60		17 them enemies of the state and deserving of discrimination,
62	61		18 punishment, isolation, and even execution for practicing their
63	62		19 faith or owning religious materials;
64	63		20 Whereas, In Burma, ethnoreligious minorities, including
65	64		21 the Muslim Rohingya and Christian Chin, have been subject to
66	65		22 institutionalized discrimination, mass killings, rapes,
67	66		23 government-run internment camps, and are denied basic rights
68	67		24 and dignity to the point that hundreds of thousands have been
69	68		25 forced to flee the country;
70	69		26 Whereas, In the Middle East, the Taliban continue to
71	70		27 persecute religious minorities in Afghanistan, millions of Sunni
72	71		28 Muslim Arabs, Yazidis, and Christians remain in internally
73	72		29 displaced person and refugee camps in Iraq, Christian
74	73		30 churches, villages, hospitals, and schools are being destroyed
75	74		31 by the Islamic government in Sudan, and widespread
76	75		32 Muslim-on-Muslim violence permeates throughout the region
77	76		33 along the Shia-Sunni divide;
78	77		34 Whereas, In Russia, the government continues to persecute
79	78		SC 8—RC 1506/DI JR 3
80	79		1 religious minorities, including Muslims, Protestants, members
81	80		2 of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Falun Gong, and
82	81		3 indigenous religions, and has issued record-breaking prison
83	82		4 sentences to Jehovah's Witnesses for alleged extremism;
84	83		5 Whereas, Religious intolerance remains a serious concern
85	84		6 across Europe, where Muslims and Jews have faced rising
86	85		7 levels of xenophobia and discrimination in eleven countries,
87	86		8 including France, England, Poland, Austria, and Germany;
88	87		9 Whereas, Countless members of religious groups have a
89	88		10 history of being oppressed and persecuted by Communist
90	89		11 regimes and are held as prisoners for merely believing in and
91	90		12 worshiping according to their faith;
92	91		13 Whereas, The 2024 U.S. Commission on International
93	92		14 Religious Freedom Annual Report requested seventeen
94	93		15 countries be designated as Countries of Particular Concern
95	94		16 (CPC): Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea,
96	95		17 India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia,
97	96		18 Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam, and
98	97		19 suggested another eleven countries be placed on the State
99	98		20 Department's Special Watch List (SWL), including Algeria,
100	99		21 Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Sri
101	100		22 Lanka, Syria, Turkey, and Uzbekistan;
102	101		23 Whereas, On December 29, 2023, in accordance with
103	102		24 IRFA, the U.S. Secretary of State designated twelve CPCs,
104	103		25 including Burma, People's Republic of China, Cuba, Eritrea,
105	104		26 Iran, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Nicaragua,
106	105		27 Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan,
107	106		28 and placed on the SWL Algeria, Azerbaijan, the Central African
108	107		29 Republic, Comoros, and Vietnam;
109	108		30 Whereas, Although only seventeen countries were placed on
110	109		31 the CPC or SWL in 2023, religious discrimination and
111	110		32 persecution is a global human rights problem that continues to
112	111		33 rise; and
113	112		34 Whereas, The right to religious freedom is a universal right
114	113		SC 8—RC 1506/DI JR 4
115	114		1 recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
116	115		2 Therefore,
117	116		3 Be it resolved by the Senate of the General Assembly
118	117		4 of the State of Indiana, the House of Representatives
119	118		5 concurring:
120	119		6 SECTION 1. That the Indiana General Assembly condemns
121	120		7 religious persecution and all violations of religious freedom
122	121		8 worldwide.
123	122		9 SECTION 2. That the Indiana General Assembly affirms
124	123		10 that religious freedom is a fundamental right of every individual
125	124		11 that should never be arbitrarily abridged by any government.
126	125		12 SECTION 3. That the Indiana General Assembly urges the
127	126		13 President of the United States and Congress to urge
128	127		14 discriminatory countries to cease their religious persecution and
129	128		15 combat religious persecution carried out by extremist non-state
130	129		16 actors.
131	130		17 SECTION 4. That the Indiana General Assembly urges the
132	131		18 President of the United States and Congress to urge the heads
133	132		19 of state around the world to uphold the right to religious
134	133		20 freedom and condemn the global persecution of any religious
135	134		21 group.
136	135		22 SECTION 5. The Secretary of the Senate is hereby directed
137	136		23 to transmit copies of this Resolution to Tim Overton and each
138	137		24 member of the Indiana congressional delegation.
139	138		SC 8—RC 1506/DI JR 5
140	139		COMMITTEE REPORT
141	140		Mr. President: The Senate Committee on Public Policy, to which
142	141		was referred Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 8, has had the same
143	142		under consideration and begs leave to report the same back to the
144	143		Senate with the recommendation that said resolution DO PASS.
145	144		(Reference is to SC 8 as introduced.)
146	145
147	146		ALTING, Chairperson
148	147		Committee Vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0
149		-	_____
150		-	COMMITTEE REPORT
151		-	Mr. Speaker: Your Committee on Public Policy, to which was
152		-	referred Senate Concurrent Resolution 8, has had the same under
153		-	consideration and begs leave to report the same back to the House with
154		-	the recommendation that said resolution do pass.
155		-	(Reference is to SC 8 as printed February 14, 2025.)
156		-	MANNING
157		-	Committee Vote: Yeas 11, Nays 0
158	148		SC 8—RC 1506/DI JR