U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that persecuted Christians will be given priority over other refugees seeking to enter the United States, saying "they have been horribly treated."
However, Trump's pledge—made during an interview with CBN News on Friday—failed to elicit unanimous approval from Christian organisations.
Christian Freedom International president Jim Jacobson praised Trump for his move, The Christian Post reported.
"This means that persecuted Christians will finally be considered for resettlement. Under the Obama administration, persecuted Christians from Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere were either essentially ignored or flatly denied consideration for resettlement to the U.S," Jacobson said in a statement. "The Trump administration has given hope to persecuted Christians that their cases will finally be considered."
However, in another report, The Christian Post quoted David Curry, president of Open Doors USA, as saying that "cherry-picking one religion over another only exacerbates the already severe worldwide trend of religious persecution."
Curry nevertheless lauded Trump for recognising "the incredible rise in persecution of Christians" even as he called for a "need-based approach that treats all faiths equally and works toward the comprehensive strengthening of religious freedom around the world."
Other Christian leaders were even more critical of Trump. Blase J. Cupich, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, said Trump's order barring citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for at least the next 90 days "proved to be a dark moment in U.S. history."
"The executive order to turn away refugees and to close our nation to those, particularly Muslims, fleeing violence, oppression and persecution is contrary to both Catholic and American values," Cupich said in a statement.
The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) also issued a call to all Christian leaders to welcome all refugees.
"We call upon Christians everywhere to pursue a biblically informed perspective of forced displacement and to actively seek the welfare of refugees," said Bp Efraim Tendero, secretary general of the WEA, in a statement.
In Friday's interview with CBN News' The Brody File, Trump said it had been "impossible, or at least very tough" for Syrian Christians to enter the United States.
"If you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible and the reason that was so unfair—everybody was persecuted, in all fairness—but they were chopping off the heads of everybody but more so the Christians. And I thought it was very, very unfair. So we are going to help them."
According to a report by the Pew Research Center, the United States admitted a record number of 38,901 Muslim refugees in 2016. But nearly the same number of Christians—37,521—were also admitted.
A Christian group that helps resettle refugees in the U.S. said that although Christian persecution ought to be deplored, Americans should not give favour to fellow Christians or bar Muslims, CNN reported.
"We would resist that strongly," said Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals and one of nine agencies that partner with the U.S. government to resettle refugees.
"Some of the most vulnerable people in the world right now are Muslims. If we say no Muslim should be let in, we are denying the humanity and dignity of people made in the image of God," Arbeiter said.
