Last week I hosted a conference for 150 local pastors and community leaders to discuss religious persecution and human rights around the world.

Religious persecution — the torture, abuse, and imprisonment of someone based solely on their religious beliefs — is a widespread problem, but little known in America. The focus of the conference was to raise awareness and support for these issues.

Speakers at the forum included:

— Congressman Chris Smith, chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

— Former Congressman Frank Wolf, who is known worldwide for his 30-plus years of congressional leadership on human rights and religious freedom issues.

— Pastor Tom Doyle, vice president and Middle East director for e3 Partners, a global church planting ministry.

— Dr. David Chadwick, pastor of Forest Hill Church.

The persecution of believers for the peaceful practice of their religion is a tragic violation of basic human rights. Yet, we see evidence of systematic oppression of Christians all over the world.

Persecution of the church is more grievous today than any other time since the 1st century. We want to bring that reality to the church leaders in our region so they can pray, work, help, assist, and advocate for our brothers and sisters around the world.

During my time in Congress, I have been a strong advocate for those suffering from religious persecution around the world. Just a few weeks ago, I hosted a U.S. Capitol reception for Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American citizen from Idaho who traveled to Iran in 2012 to build an orphanage, but was arbitrarily arrested, tortured, and imprisoned due to his Christian faith.

At the request of Dr. Chadwick and evangelist Franklin Graham, I led multiple efforts over the past three years to secure freedom for Pastor Abedini. These bipartisan efforts included writing letters to encourage President Obama and Secretary Kerry to take action, and organizing a bipartisan meeting to request assistance from Pope Francis. Thankfully, our prayers were answered and Pastor Abedini is now home in America.

My hope is through this forum, we can facilitate communication, understanding, and action between policy makers in Washington and our local community leaders.

On Wednesday, I went to a sneak peek event at the new VA facility in Charlotte to greet veterans and check out the bus stop we advocated to give disabled veterans front door service.

In March 2014, local veterans contacted me with concerns that there wasn’t going to be a bus stop close enough for disabled vets to easily access the new VA Health Care Center. We looked into the issue, asking CATS whether they planned to locate any bus stop on the facility. Citing a preference to not operate buses in parking lots, CATS said it was not going to provide front door service.

The local veterans and I partnered to write several letters to CATS, pointing out other situations where CATS runs bus service through a parking lot and offering to help CATS navigate any VA bureaucracy that might be blocking a solution.

In response, CATS reconsidered its earlier decision and confirmed plans to place the bus stop right next to the front door, making the new center more easily acceptable to our veterans.

As a congressman, a big part of my job is helping cut through red tape. We are grateful that CATS has agreed to place the bus stop close to the front door as this is an enormous benefit and relief for disabled veterans. Any local veteran needing assistance with VA red tape is welcome to call my office at 704-362-1060.

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Robert Pittenger represents the 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes all of Robeson County.