For more than a century, America’s relationship with the Armenian people has been rooted in a shared Christian ethic. The Armenians were the first Christian nation in the world to adopt Christianity as their state religion in 301 AD.
When the Armenian people faced systematic extermination during the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, the United States became the single largest source of humanitarian relief. American missionaries, churches, and civil society organizations saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Armenian Christians.
America has a responsibility to protect Christians under threat.
Established by an act of Congress, the Near East Relief Organization fed, sheltered, and educated Armenian orphans who would otherwise have died. This was not realpolitik (realistic, pragmatic concerns driven by politics), but a moral act based on faith, conscience, and the belief that America has a responsibility to protect Christians under threat.
The introduction of HR 6534 in the U.S. House of Representatives, a bill proposing to lift longstanding restrictions on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan, raises issues beyond geopolitics and the energy corridor. This poses a moral test of whether the United States will remain true to its historic mission to protect persecuted Christians and vulnerable religious communities, or trade that legacy for short-term strategic expediency.
During the Cold War and after Armenia’s independence in 1991, the United States consistently supported Armenia’s continued existence as a Christian nation surrounded by hostile forces. Article 907 of the Freedom Support Act, adopted in 1992, reflects historic moral clarity in support of the Armenian people.
Attacks and collective punishment must not go unpunished.
Congress imposed limits on direct U.S. government assistance to Azerbaijan in response to Azerbaijan’s blockade and use of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, which targeted indigenous Armenian Christians. Article 907 was a defense of justice, embodying a simple principle deeply rooted in Christian ethics: aggression and collective punishment should not go unpunished.
Today, that principle is under direct attack. Azerbaijan’s actions in 2020, and most decisively in September 2023, resulted in the forced displacement of more than 100,000 Armenian Christians from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ancient churches were desecrated, cemeteries destroyed, and thousands of years of Christianity disappeared almost overnight. International observers, human rights groups, and genocide scholars have described these events as ethnic cleansing.
If the United States lifts restrictions immediately after this result, it would send a devastating message that there are no consequences for expelling Christians from their ancestral homelands.
The United States, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, has repeatedly affirmed that defending religious freedom is central to American foreign policy. The International Religious Freedom Act, the work of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and countless Congressional resolutions affirm this commitment.
American presidents regularly speak about their obligation to protect Christians.
American presidents regularly speak about their obligation to protect Christians in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The Armenians of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are no exception. If anything, they represent one of the clearest cases in which a small ancient Christian community faced systematic pressure from a much more powerful state.
Proponents of removing restrictions argue in the language of strategy, energy security, geopolitics, and logistics corridors. But Christian ethics teaches that strategy without morality is empty. The Bible warns against gaining the world while losing your soul. When American policy becomes indifferent to the suffering of Christians, America’s moral authority is eroded everywhere.
If the United States is willing to overlook the ethnic cleansing of Armenian Christians for the sake of convenience, how can it credibly talk about protecting Christians in Nigeria, Syria, and Iraq?
Furthermore, rewarding Azerbaijan now would create a precedent and teach authoritarian regimes that military force, religious persecution, and population annihilation are acceptable tools as long as they are rhetorically consistent with U.S. interests. The lessons will be passed on beyond the region.
The United States has always been strongest when its power was guided by principles.
The United States has always been strongest when its power was guided by principles. From rescuing Armenian genocide survivors to defending persecuted Christians during the Cold War, America’s global leadership has been built on a moral foundation shaped primarily by Christian tradition. Section 907 is one of the last remaining expressions of that tradition in U.S. policy toward the South Caucasus.
Removing the restrictions would be a moral setback. Congress should reject HR 6534 and reaffirm a simple truth: America does not reward the persecution of Christians, the destruction of churches, or the eradication of ancient Christians. Failure to do so would mean abandoning not only a core part of the Armenian identity, but also a core part of America’s own identity.
Ciara Walsh is a Christian activist and project coordinator at Open Doors International, working on religious freedom issues and advocating for persecuted Christians around the world.
