The Rev Richard Cizik, Vice President for Governmental Affairs, the National Association of Evangelicals: The answer is rooted in the scriptures, which say that every person is important. The people of the world have rights that came from God himself.

They are inheritors of the image of God, and because everyone is so valuable to God, it’s incumbent upon us, his stewards on this earth, to take the kind of actions that would represent him. And the scope and the scale of what is occurring in Sudan and Darfur — the wanton killings, and the displacement of civilians — requires us to speak out and to act. It’s a simple Biblical duty.

The first thing that people of faith can do is pray.

Second, they can join coalitions. Churches can band together, and with synagogues and others speak out on such a day as Save Darfur Day. It is essential for all to understand that the policy of the world to play down genocide and hope it will just go away is a bankrupt policy, not just practically, but morally too.

And for sure, there are no neat solutions to this problem, but ignoring this is not going to work, and we cannot turn our eyes away from it. Because Christians got involved and were concerned about south Sudan, the world’s attention has more easily shifted to see what’s going on in Darfur.

Christian people have played an enormous role in this; they deserve credit and encouragement to go on to greater acts of love and charity in Christ’s name. (Concluded)