Pastor Joel Osteen, of the 40,000-member Lakewood Church in Houston, and his congregation are supporting H.R. 2805, the “End Sex Trafficking Act of 2013.”
“The suffering associated with human trafficking resonates strongly within the Christian community, and we know of many churches, like our own, whose compassion for its victims have moved them to act,” Joel and Victoria Osteen said in a statement emailed to Charisma News.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, “will help eliminate human trafficking rings by targeting the criminals who purchase sexual acts from these organizations and ensuring that they are prosecuted as human traffickers.”
Sex trafficking is prevalent in Texas, with Houston being known as a major hub. Children across the United States are being forced into sexual acts against their will, and lawmakers are demanding to end this tragedy by targeting the buyer, according to the Houston Chronicle.
“Our culture in this country needs to understand that when young girls are forced into prostitution against their will, especially minors, they are not prostitutes; they are victims of crime, and we should regard them as victims of crime,” Poe says. “This bill strengthens and clarifies federal law to ensure that buyers of sex from minors and other trafficked victims are arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced where they belong: jail.”
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