ambassador at large for international religious freedom, sam brownback. stir ambassador, great to have you. >> was a pleasure to join you. >> mike: vice president pence took aim at beijing today, let's listen. >> the communist party in china has arrested christian pastors, banned the sale of bibles, demolished churches and imprisoned more than a million in the muslim population. >> mike: what's been done to confront china's crackdown on both christians and muslims? >> we are raising this issue, where pushing it forward tomorrow here at the u.n., the deputy secretary of state will be hosting an event just about what is taking place to the weaker muslim population, primarily muslim population there. and we are continuing to raise this issue and build alliances of other individual countries that are concerned about what's taking place to their religious adherence that are active in china. china is at war with faith, but it is a war they will not win. we are confronting them if you got a growing alliance of other countries that are joining us. >> mike: from e

ambassador a larger international religious freedom sam brownback joins us to react next. about 50% of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. eosinophils are a key cause of severe asthma. fasenra is designed to target and remove these cells. fasenra is an add-on injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils. fasenra is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenra is proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, improve breathing, and can lower oral steroid use. fasenra may cause allergic reactions. get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection or your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. haven't you missed enough? ask an asthma specialist about fasenra. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. >> mike: president trump is >> donald trump calling out world leaders and demanding action

when asked when the united states elevated religious freedom sufficiently, brownback said not yet, answer the a person isn't going to be locking people up, it is going to be marginalizing them in society. that is why for me this is something we have got to go and aggressively. before it spreads more. sources say the administration is considering government identified by the us commission on international religious freedom as countries of particular concern, those that engage in severe religious freedom violations, that list includes china, iran, north korea and saudi arabia in the second-tier identifying countries where the government tolerates persecution like afghanistan, egypt and india, michigan and pakistan to its watchlist. >> this is a unique moment where you've got this alignment with parties and all branches of the government concerned about this. >> there are concerns especially in several countries listed as violators of religious freedom are american allies and security partners like saudi arabia, egypt, iraq and india. >> a foreign government does not speak for all its people

. >> ambassador for international religious freedom sam brownback refused to comment on the discussions about aid, when asked about they had elevated religious freedom sufficiently, he said, not yet. "the oppression isn't going to be locking people up, it's going to be marginalizing them in society. that's why for me, this is something that we really have got to go out aggressively now. before this thing spreads more." sources say the administration is considering governments identified by the u.s. commission on international religious freedom as countries of particular concern. those that engage in severe religious freedom violations, that list includes china, iran, north korea, saudi arabia. a second tier identifying countries where the government tolerates persecution, like afghanistan, egypt, and india. they condition added pakistan to each watch list. >> this is a unique time enrollment where you've got this alignment with parties in all branches of government concerned about this. >> there are concerns, especially at several countries listed as violators of religious freedom or am

we've got a special envoy who handles any anti-semitism issues, former governor brownback who handles religious freedom issues. working to message about how tragic and unacceptable it is for any nation to persecute any individual as a result of their religious beliefs and their duty to protect these, these practitioners of their faith in a way that preserves their security and allows them to practice their own beliefs. rachel: secretary, we've seen over christmas, you know, some horrific attack it is on christians. by the way, the most persecuted religion on the planet right now. beheadings, a village attacked and seven killed there as well as the kidnapping of the young teenager christian girl. but why are we seeing this rise in attacks? specifically for christians? >> it's difficult to know precisely what the cause of these increases are. we can begin to identify them. they're different in different places, but, rachel, as you've seen too around the world a respect for religious faith is something that governments have a responsibility to do. i've talked at some length about china a