VOM: 'Religious Freedom' in China Is for Those Who Are Communist First
by Chad Groening
April 26, 2006
(AgapePress) - - An Oklahoma-based ministry dedicated to the persecuted Church says in Communist China, religious freedom means being a good communist first -- and being religious after that. During last week's White House address by Communist Chinese leader Hu Jintao, a protestor had to be forcibly removed from the South Lawn by Secret Service personnel after she shouted, in Chinese, "President Hu, you're days are numbered." The woman -- 47-year-old Wang Wenyi, a member of the Falun Gong sect -- has since been charged with harassing, intimidating, and threatening a foreign official, charges that are punishable by up to six months in jail.
Todd Nettleton is director of media services with Voice of the Martyrs. The Falun Gong, he explains, is just one of the groups heavily persecuted in China. "When you talk about the Falun Gong, when you talk about the Buddhist monks in Tibet, you're really talking about the whole issue of religious freedom in China," he says. "And the fact is, religious freedom exists in China -- for those who are communist first and religious after that.
"It does not exist for those like our Christian brothers and sisters who say, 'I am going to follow Christ first, and everything else will come after that,'" he continues. "That is not something the government likes to see, and they'll put pressure on you to be a good communist first and everything else after that."
Nettleton says he hopes President Bush privately discussed China's human-rights record during last week's meetings with President Hu. Bush stated toward the end of the meetings that he had called for expanded Chinese freedoms to "assemble, speak freely, and to worship."
In addition, he is hopeful the U.S. would defend the Republic of China (Taiwan) against a possible invasion by Hu's country, which does not recognize Taiwan as a legitimate entity but as an "inalienable" part of Chinese territory. Bush commented during the meetings that the U.S. opposes an independent Taiwan.
But Nettleton notes that the United States has a long history of supporting an independent Taiwan and the people of Taiwan. "That should be their call, rather than the call of the government in Beijing," the VOM spokesman states.
On the subject of Taiwan, Hu said last week that his country would seek a peaceful reunification with the ROC but was resolved never to allow it to "secede from China by any means."
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
