Close to My Heart

In researching a paper on religious persecution in China for my International Human Rights class, I am deeply moved, humbled, and saddened by the struggles of the Chinese people oceans away. In their world they are tortured, they are raped, and they are murdered because they believe in God. In their world they must hide, run, and uproot to exercise their right to worship. And yet they are not afraid to fight forces much bigger than them, because they know that justice will be done, and they know that they are fighting for something bigger than them all. As an American of Chinese decent, and as a Christian, this topic is close to my heart. These people across the globe are my blood. We share the same history, the same ancestry, the same God. It pains me that my fellow brothers and sisters are being tortured, but it gives me hope that someday our God will prevail, and the torturous authorities will fall.

The following is an excerpt from my paper:

"The Chinese government allows only five kinds of religions in China: Protestantism, Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and Daoism.While all other forms of religion not among the five recognized are considered “cults” (e.g. the well documented persecution of Falun Gong practitioners) and are subject to governmental sanction, harsh restrictions are imposed on the recognized religious groups as well.Presently, all five recognized religious groups are required to register with the government and operate under governmental purview.In 1950 all protestant denominations were forced to merge and the Catholic church in China is forbidden to recognize the authority of the Vatican or the Pope. These recognized groups are monitored by the government on a regular basis and are subject to annual investigation by the Chinese government.When Shi Yun-Chao questioned the police authorities the reasons for categorizing his church as a part of the “Shouter Sect” (a “cult” outlawed by the Chinese government), the officials of the Religion Bureau replied:

“You are Shouter Sect if you shout loud; you are also Shouter Sect if you lower your voice shouting. We think you are still Shouter Sect even if you mumble words in your mouth! The Shouter Sect is counterrevolutionary.”

In another instance, the Chinese police arrested pastor Li Chang-shou because pastor Li Chang-shou preached “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.”While this biblical passage from Galatians is commonly heard in American churches, pastor Li Chang-shou was arrested for the crime of “deifying” himself,a defining characteristic of a “cult”."

The founder of the New York based Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China Mr. Li Shixiong was imprisoned and tortured for 19 years. He says, “I love my country and people. I believe in God. Because of this, I'm not scared of the strong evil power and dare to make it known to the world the facts of how the state terrorists persecute the people.”

Let’s fight for the Chinese people’s right to freedom of religion. Please visit www.china21.org and click on the English Version for more information on this topic and let’s make a difference.

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