Activists are unhappy with the US Vice President's choice of words, describing ISIL as the cause of genocide of Christianity.
He was speaking at the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians in Washington, DC when he told his audience, "The reality is, across the wider world, the Christian faith is under siege. Throughout the world, no people of faith today face greater hostility or hatred than the followers of Christ".
"I believe ISIS is guilty of nothing short of genocide against people of the Christian faith, and it is time the world called it by name," said Pence.
The executive director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Simon Adams, felt that Pence should have used a different choice of words. "You have to be so careful with the genocide word. This is not just a word to throw around because it serves political advantage."
Pence stated that an estimated 215 million Christians faced mistreatment in more than 100 countries.
However the director of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs at the World Council of Churches, Peter Prove, told Al Jazeera that some of the numbers used by Pence "may be questionable".
"We know numerically that Muslims have been by far the greater victims of Islamic extremism," he said.
The World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians helps to raise awareness about the hardships suffered by Christians, especially Christian minorities.