The escalating crisis in northern Iraq by the Islamic State poses a serious genocidal threat to religious minorities in northern Iraq as well as Sunni and Shia Muslims that reject the Islamic State’s barbaric killings and violation of Islamic beliefs. NAE President Leith Anderson joined with some evangelical leaders, such as Harold Smith, President and CEO of Christianity Today International, and Richard Mouw, President Emeritus of Fuller Theological Seminary, and other faith leaders to write a letter to President Obama encouraging him to continue and strengthen actions that protect religious minorities in the region.

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

We are leaders of faith communities who are watching the escalating crisis in northern Iraq with mounting alarm. The Islamic State poses a serious genocidal threat to religious minorities in northern Iraq as well as Sunni and Shia Muslims that reject the Islamic State’s barbaric killings and violation of Islamic beliefs. Territorial gains by the Islamic State have been followed swiftly by its deeply rooted exclusionary ideology – and a policy requiring non-Muslim civilians to “convert or die” and Sunni and Shia Muslims to “submit or die” that has resulted in brutal massacres.

We are deeply troubled by the immediate crisis facing tens of thousands of Yazidi civilians in this region, who face threat of extermination by the Islamic State simply because of their religious beliefs. We commend your Administration’s decision to defend the Yazidis, and strongly support your authorization of food drops for the Yazidi population and airstrikes against the Islamic State forces holding them under siege. These actions provided a small window for thousands of Yazidi civilians to escape the siege on Mt. Sinjar, where they had remained trapped without food or water and in dire conditions.

While your Administration has acted admirably in response to this threat against civilian life, the danger posed by the Islamic State is far from over and much more remains to be done. In particular, we note that reports by an assessment team sent by your Administration that the siege on Mt. Sinjar is effectively over has been fiercely contradicted by Yazidi leaders, relief agencies and UN officials. These leaders claim that tens of thousands of Yazidi lives still hang precariously in the balance on the southern flank of the mountain, missed by your assessment team.

Just this Sunday, August 17, at least 80 Yazidi men were executed by the Islamic State for refusing to convert to Islam. More than 1000 women and girls were kidnapped by Islamic State forces, ostensibly with the intent of forcing conversion and “marrying” them to Islamic State fighters and sympathizers.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Islamic State executed 700 Sunni members of the al-Sheitat tribe in Syria over the past two weeks because of their refusal to accept Islamic State rule. In June, virtually all Christian families in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul were forced to flee after the Islamic State threatened to exterminate them, marking all Christian households with red paint. ISIS has also killed hundreds of Christians in both Iraq and Syria, with reports of beheadings and crucifixions.

We ask you to continue and strengthen your actions in defense of Yazidi, Christians, religious minorities and oppressed Sunni and Shia Muslims in northern Iraq.

We also note that the immediate threat to Yazidis, Christians, religious minorities and oppressed Muslims is taking place in a larger context of instability in Iraq and the region. Other recent attacks have displaced over 200,000 people bringing the total number of internally displaced persons in Iraq to 1.4 million in 2014. As you have noted, these broader challenges will require long term approaches.

We welcomed the launch of a massive UN relief mission and the unified position of the UN Security Council in adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2170 introducing sanctions aimed to stem financing of the Islamic State and other groups causing instability in the region. We urge you to continue to work with the Iraqi government and multilaterally with the United Nations to address these broader challenges, even as you remain prepared to act to protect civilians from immediate mass slaughter.

As leaders of different faiths we strongly believe in the protection of civilians of any faith from mass slaughter based on their beliefs. We have seen your willingness to act swiftly and with compassion to protect religious minorities under threat in northern Iraq. As we join together, we urge you to join with world leaders to continue to protect those in Iraq who remain at risk of atrocities.

Sincerely,

National Movements and Institutions:

Gideon Aronoff
Chief Executive Officer, Ameinu (Our People)

The Rt. Rev. David C. Anderson
President and Chairman of the Board, American Anglican Council

The Rev. Canon J. Philip Ashey
Chief Executive Officer, American Anglican Council

Rabbi Mark Borovitz
Head Rabbi, Beit TShuvah

Rev. Jul Medenblik
President, Calvin Theological Seminary

Rev. Heidi McGinness
Director of Outreach, Christian Solidarity International – USA

Harold Smith
President and CEO, Christianity Today International

Pesach Housfater
Chairman, Combat Genocide Association (Israel)

Robert S. McCaw
Government Affairs Manager, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Richard Young
Co-Chair, Darfur Interfaith Network

Richard Mouw
Professor of Faith and Public Life and President Emeritus, Fuller Theological Seminary

Dr. Thomas Farr
Director, Religious Freedom Project, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University

Mark Hetfield
President and CEO, HIAS

Faith McDonnell
Director – Religious Liberty Program, Institute on Religion and Democracy

Mark D. Tooley
President, Institute on Religion and Democracy

Ethan Felson
Senior Vice President, Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Rabbi Steve Gutow
President, Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Rita Freedman
Acting Executive Director, Jewish Labor Committee

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg
Founding President (ret.), Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation

Janice Kamenir-Reznik
Co-Founder and President, Jewish World Watch

Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis
Co-Founder, Jewish World Watch

Leith Anderson
President, National Association of Evangelicals

Nancy K. Kaufman
CEO, National Council of Jewish Women

Tahil Sharma
Executive Director, La Verne Coalition for Compassion Youth Representative, Parliament of the World’s Religions, United Nations

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld
Executive Vice President, Rabbinical Assembly

Rabbi Mordechai Liebling
Director, Tikkun Olam Commission, RRC/Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Irit Kohn
President, The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists

Rabbi Steven Wernick
CEO, The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

Rev. Dr. William Schulz
President and Chief Executive Officer, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

Hon. Thomas H. Andrews
President and CEO, United to End Genocide

Rabbi Ari Hart
Co-Founder, Uri L’Tzedek

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz
Founder & President, Uri L’Tzedek

Regional Institutions:

Rabbi Adam
Greenwald Director, Miller Introduction to Judaism Program, American Jewish University

The Rt. Rev’d Stephen D. Wood
Bishop, Diocese of the Carolinas, Anglican Church in North America

The Most Rev’d Dr. Foley Beach
Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church in North America
Bishop, Anglican Diocese of the South

Bishop Stewart E. Ruch III
Rector, Church of the Resurrection
Bishop, Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest

Archbishop Hovnan Derderian
Primate, Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America

H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian
Prelate, Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America

Cailey Locklair Tolle
Deputy Executive Director, Baltimore Jewish Council

Rabbi Jonathan Bernhard
President, Board of Rabbis of Southern California

Yehuda Mirsky
Associate Professor of the Practice of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University

Rt. Rev. Julian M Dobbs
Missionary Bishop, Convocation of Anglicans in North America

Rabbi Stephen Einstein
Rabbi Emeritus Congregation B’nai Tzedek
Huntington Beach Interfaith Council

Alanna Kleinman
Community Engagement Fellow, Institute of Southern Jewish Life

Courtney Mellblom
Interim Executive Director, Jewish Community Center Federation of San Luis Obispo County

Jon-Erik Storm
President, Jewish Community Center Federation of San Luis Obispo County

Matthew L. Goldberg
Director of Community Relations and Development Director, Jewish Community of Louisville, Inc

Rabbi Joshua Ratner
Director, Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater New Haven

Steve Hunegs
Executive Director, Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas

Sammy Schulman
Board Chair, Jewish Federation of Broward County

Eric B. Stillman
President and CEO, Jewish Federation of Broward County

Joy Kurland
Director, Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey

Pat Kalmans
Chair, Community Relations Council, Jewish Federation of San Antonio

Judy Lackritz
Director, Community Relations Council, Jewish Federation of San Antonio

Josephine Gon Datz
Executive Director, Jewish Federation of Springfield, Illinois

Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg
Ohef Sholom Temple, Norfolk, VA
President, Board of Rabbis and Cantors of Hampton Roads

Rabbi Drew Kaplan
Southern California Jewish Student Services

Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller
Executive Director, UCLA Hillel

Dr. Varun Soni
Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California

Individual Faith Leaders and Institutions:

Reverend Kasereka Kasomo
African Christian Community Church of Southern California (ACCCSC), Los Angeles, CA

Carol McFall
Christian Science Practitioner, Atascadero, CA

Janith W. Mason
Lynnwood Reformed Church, Schenectady, NY

Tyler Thompson
Associate Pastor, Oaks Bible Church, Santa Barbara, CA

The Rev. Carlton B. Turner
Associate Priest, St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church, Los Osos, CA

The Reverend Dr. Gwynne Guibord
Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Deborah Silver
Assistant Rabbi, Adat Ari El, Valley Village, CA

Jill Eisen
Director, Hebrew School in Your Neighborhood, Beth El Congregation, Baltimore, MD

Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels
Beth Shir Shalom, Santa Monica, CA

Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky
B’nai David Judea Congregation, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Linda
Bertenthal Congregation Beth David, San Luis Obispo, CA

Rabbi David N. Young Congregation
B’nai Tzedek, Fountain Valley, CA

Rabbi Janice Mehring
Congregation Ohr Tzafon, Atascadero CA

Rabbi David Vorspan
Congregation Shir Ami, West Hills, California

Rabbi Sharon Brous
Spiritual Leader, IKAR, Los Angeles, CA

Rosh Kehilah Dina Najman
Spiritual Leader, Kehilah Synagogue, Riverdale, NY

Rabbi Amy Bernstein
Senior Rabbi, Kehillat Israel Reconsructionist Congregation, Pacific Palisades, CA

Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben, PhD
Rabbi Emeritus, Kehillat Israel Reconsructionist Congregation, Pacific Palisades, CA

Rabbi Judith HaLevy
Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue, Malibu, CA

Itai Gal
Resident Organizer, Moishe Kavod Jewish Social Justice House

Rabbi Yonah Bookstein
Co-Founder, Pico Shul, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi David Wolpe
Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Ron Stern
Stephen S. Wise Temple, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Rebecca L. Dubowe
Temple Adat Elohim, Thousand Oaks, CA

Rabbi Peter S. Levi
Temple Beth El of South Orange County, Aliso Viejo, CA

Rabbi K’vod Wieder
Temple Beth El of South Orange County, Aliso Viejo, CA

Rabbi Arielle Hanien
Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, CA

Mark Strunin and the Board of Directors
Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Jonathan Kupetz
Temple Beth Israel, Pomona, CA

Rabbi David A Cantor
Temple Beth Shalom of Long Beach, Long Beach, CA

Rabbi Jonathan Aaron
Senior Rabbi, Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills, CA

Rabbi Sarah Bassin
Assistant Rabbi, Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills, CA

Rabbi Laura Geller
Senior Rabbi, Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills, CA

Rabbi Dara Frimmer
Temple Isaiah, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Zoë Klein
Temple Isaiah, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi John L. Rosove
Senior Rabbi, Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Joshua M Aaronson
Temple Judea, Tarzana, CA

Rav Ahud Sela
Rabbi, Temple Ramat Zion, Northridge, CA

Rabbi Arnold Rachlis
University Synagogue, Irvine, CA

Rabbi Morley T. Feinstein
University Synagogue, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Joel Thal Simonds
University Synagogue, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Edward M Feinstein
Valley Beth Shalom, Encino, CA

Rabbi Joshua Hoffman
Valley Beth Shalom, Encino, CA

Rabbi Ron Li-Paz
Valley Outreach Synagogue, Chatsworth, CA

Rabbi David
Baum Boca Raton, FL