Courtesy of the Family Research Council:
A group of 19 Chinese Christian leaders has drafted and sent a petition to their Communist government asking that it honor the Chinese Constitution's assurance of religious liberty. "For the last six decades, the rights to liberty of religious faith granted to our country's Christians by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China have not been put into practice," they wrote. The Chinese government is continuing its campaign of repression against the so-called "unofficial" Chinese churches, whose members number as many as 70 million believers. According to China scholar Dr. William Jeynes in a lecture at FRC, the Chinese government realizes that Christianity fosters personal morality and economic growth, but "unofficial" Christians make the government "nervous." Why? Because the government can't control people whose first commitment is not to the state, but to Christ.
One of America 's great champions of religious liberty, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), held an important hearing earlier this month on China's ongoing assault on "unregistered" churches. "Because the Chinese government demands that religious organizations serve the aims of the state," he said, "religious organizations must receive government approval to operate... However, many religious observers adhere to the tenet that they must 'render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, but unto God what is God's,' and as a result, they are persecuted." For up-to-the-minute reports on the crisis of Christian faith in China, go to FRC's RealCompassion.org website and click over to Voice of the Martyrs.