WASHINGTON (RNS) The highest-ranking Muslim in the British government on Friday (Nov. 15) called on Western governments to do more to protect besieged Christian minorities across the world, particularly in the Holy Land where they are now seen as "outsiders."

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the government's minister for faith and the first Muslim member of a British cabinet, said religious freedom is a proxy for human rights and must not be an "add-on" to foreign policy.

"A mass exodus is taking place, on a biblical scale," she said in a speech at Georgetown University. "In some places, there is a real danger that Christianity will become extinct."

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