Land commends Bush actions in China
- Nov 30, 2005
ERLC President Richard Land applauded President Bush’s attendance at a church service and his promotion of religious liberty while he was in China recently.
Bush and his wife, Laura, attended Beijing’s Gangwashi Church, a congregation registered with the Chinese government, during a morning worship service Nov. 20.
Outside the church building afterward, Bush said, “My hope is that the government of China will not fear Christians who gather to worship openly. A healthy society is a society that welcomes all faiths and gives people a chance to express themselves through worship with the Almighty.”
Later in the day, the President told reporters he had talked to Chinese leaders about both religious and political freedom. “A society which recognizes religious freedom is a society which will recognize political freedoms, as well,” he said.
Land said he is “delighted the President chose to highlight the cause of religious freedom while he was in China. He has done this before, and it does help to keep the issue on the front burner both in world opinion and with Chinese government officials.”
Recent crackdowns on Christian leaders again have demonstrated how limited religious freedom is under China’s communist regime, a fact confirmed by a November report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Land and six other members of the USCIRF spent 15 days in August in China. The bipartisan panel reported repression continues of unapproved religious groups and urged the U.S. government to take a variety of steps to influence reform by the Beijing government.
“While it is clear that more space has been created for religious expression than previously existed in China or ever existed in the Soviet Union, it is also true that there is still significant government control,” Land said. “What China has is limited toleration of religious expression through registered churches, which are strictly regulated and monitored.
“This is why perhaps as many as five times as many Christians choose to worship in unregistered venues, even with the constant threat of arrest and persecution, than worship in registered venues,” he said. “I’m sure the President chose to worship in a registered church setting for the same reason that our commission chose not to meet with members of the underground and unregistered church, i.e., it would expose the underground church and Christians to possible retaliation from the government after the American officials had returned home.”
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