AOL File Library: 4,701 to 4,800/aol-file-protocol-4400-4701-to-4800.zip/AOLDLs/Social Issues & Comments/China kills Christian/china.txt

Text File | 2014-12-11 | 11KB | 192 lines

CHINA KILLS CHRISTIAN, IMPRISONS CLERGY

           The following is from a recent edition of Christian
            Crusade Newspaper, P.O. Box 977, Tulsa, OK
            74102. The newspaper is in its 42nd year of
            publication. Dr. Hargis can be E-mailed on
            America On Line as BJHargis, on Compuserve at
            72204,541, and via the Internet as
            [e-mail] .

            Permission is granted for this article to be used in
            newsletters, on computer BBSs or  other otherwise
            published, provided that attribution to Dr. Hargis
            and Christian Crusade Newspaper is included.

            copyright 1993 Christian Crusade Newspaper.
            All rights reserved.

from CHRISTIAN CRUSADE NEWSPAPER
by Dr. Billy James Hargis, publisher
Keith Wilkerson, editor

Beijing's atheistic government has cracked down on a wide
spectrum of Christian believers ever since the Clinton
administration awarded China "most-favored nation" trading
status, according to witnesses in recent congressional hearings.
    Furthermore, Chinese officials have told U.S. trade
representatives that they do not take seriously Clinton
administration to cut off trade because of human rights abuses.
    Chinese police arrested a Catholic bishop days after he met
with U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J,) in Beijing, the congressman
said. Bishop Su Zhiming's detention came at the same time that
Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen was in China to urge
improvements in China's human rights record.
    Su, 61, previously spent 15 years in prison for his participation
in the underground Catholic church. The Beijing government
only recognizes a state-run Catholic-style church that is barred
from having contact with the Vatican in Europe.
     Smith said Su's arrest was evidence that China was
"backsliding" on human rights. "Human rights conditions
continue to deteriorate at a rapid pace that does not seem to be
letting up," the Congressman said.
    News Network International confirms growing persecution,
including the death of Zheng Musheng, a Chinese Protestant who
attended an illegal home fellowship service in defiance of
Communist Party rules. Zheng died after police arrested him,
hung him by his ankles and beat him. He was one of millions of
Chinese who worship in unrecognized and unregulated churches
set up illegally in private homes, NNI said.
    The Clinton administration says China must improve its
human rights record to win renewal of most-favored-nation trade
status later this year.
    The Puebla Institute, a Washington-based human rights group,
said this week that Chinese authorities recently arrested at least
14 Christians, including seven underground Catholic priests and
seven Evangelical house-church preachers. At least six of these
have been sentenced to "reform through labor" prison camps for
one to three years, it said.
    Amnesty International placed the total at 25 Protestant
preachers and Catholic leaders arrested or placed under
restrictions for their religious activities in recent months.
    Police harassment has forced Shanghai's most senior home
fellowship group leader into hiding to avoid arrest, according to
NNI's Andrew Wark. "Li Tian An, in his late 60s, has reportedly
come under mounting pressure from Public Security Bureau
authorities in the past year," reported Wark. Police told Li that if
he would report Christians attending home churches, they would
not interfere with his evangelism efforts. Li refused and went
underground.
    Another Shanghai home fellowship group leader, Xie Moshan,
is under house arrest. All his mail is intercepted and read by
authorities. Xie, in his early 70s, had been jailed on charges of
"conducting illegal evangelism."
    In the northern Chinese province of Hebei, police have
detained two Catholic bishops and three priests. Details
surrounding their arrests remain incomplete. Sources report that
Bishops Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding and Joannes Han of Handan
were arrested and are in administrative detention. Jia is one of
the "underground" Catholic church's most senior leaders. He was
arrested January 7 in the city of Zhengding. Han was reportedly
arrested shortly after he officiated mass in Handan.
    Of the three detained priests, Chu Tai, has reportedly been
sentenced to a one-year "reeducation through labor" prison term.
Another priest, Zhang Li, was sentenced to three years. The third
priest, Placidius Pei Ronggui of Shijiazhuang, earlier had been
sentenced to five years of "reeducation through labor."
    Travel has been restricted for two other Catholic bishops in the
northeastern municipality of Tianjin. Bishop Li Side has been
confined to a church in a mountainous district. Bishop Shi
Hongzhen has had his travel restricted as well.
    Wark also reported that in the Fujian Province, police have
arrested an 80-year-old district leader of a Pentecostal group. Lin
Zilong was arrested on unknown charges. His family is permitted
to bring him food daily, but have not received any indication
about his possible sentencing and imprisonment.
    Has persecution against China's Christians increased ever since
"most-favored" trading status was received in 1993? "I think we've
gradually seen the situation worsen," said Jeff Taylor of the Bible-
smuggling group Open Doors. "The situation is pretty bad."
    Taylor said threats by the Clinton administration to rescind the
trading status may not be effective, however, in reducing
Christian persecution. "You can only push them so far," he
explained. "The Chinese are not as open to political pressure.
While they are progressive economically, there still seems to be
this mindset that 'We'll close our doors again.' They really are
serious about keeping internal control. It's not a surprise when
they enact laws like this."
    The law he was referring to is China's new hard line against
missionaries from overseas. China's Premier Li Peng has signed
edicts restricting certain foreign missionary activity and
prohibiting preaching without government approval.
    Nevertheless, "Amazing freedom exists for those who go
through channels and take time to build relationships," East
Gates Ministries leader Ned Graham has told the National and
International Religion Report.
    He said East Gates mission workers have traveled legally in
China for years and have distributed 200,000 Bibles in the last 15
months. He says that the new law only penalizes unauthorized
ministry by foreigners, but could be interpreted as legalizing
authorized preaching and teaching by foreigners. He noted that
"laws in China are in constant flux," said NIRR. "In some areas
witnessing is tolerated, in others it is totally suppressed."
    Shortly after announcing the new edicts, Chinese police
arrested seven foreign missionaries in central Henan province,
then expelled the Rev. Dennis Balcombe, an American who leads
an evangelistic outreach in Hong Kong. Authorities said the
foreigners had violated the new measure just signed into law by
Premier Li Peng.
    Balcombe has been traveling throughout China for the past 20
years. He was arrested, along with the others, in a midnight raid
on a home fellowship group. Seven Chinese Christians were also
arrested in the raid.
    Police said that in addition to Balcombe, they detained and
released two other U.S. citizens, two Indonesians and two Hong
Kong residents. "These people acknowledged that they had
violated Chinese laws, and they guaranteed that they would not
conduct such activities any more," Wu said at a weekly news
briefing.
    Balcombe, however, says he has admitted to breaking no laws,
nor has he signed any documents during his four days in
detention. He reported that he was searched, held under guard in
unheated quarters, deprived of sleep during days of interrogation,
and denied permission to call his family or attorney.
    Balcombe told NIRR that money, not religious freedom, may
have been the reason for his arrest. It seems that he had invested
several thousand dollars in the state-run Department Store in
Fangcheng ╤ one of the scores of new private enterprises
constantly seeking Western investors.
    However, when Balcombe began asking about his investment,
he was stonewalled by officials. He said he was told by Chinese
friends that if he pressed the matter, he would be arrested on
trumped-up charges. He had written off the loss and continued
evangelistic work until his arrest.
    He said nobody understands the new law completely. It is
broad enough to allow authorities to arrest virtually anyone who
shares the Gospel ╤ yet is vague enough to allow the
government to claim that the practice of religion remains legal.
    This is certain: Foreigners "have no right to set up religious
organizations, institutions, discussion groups or theology
schools, neither can they convert Chinese people, ordain
clergymen or engage in other religious activities," explained a
spokesman for government's Religious Affairs Bureau.
    "The rules and regulations prohibit foreigners to post or to
bring to China any religious printed matters and video tapes that
jeopardise Chinese social public interest." Of course, "Chinese
social public interest" could be defined as almost anything.
    Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign
Affairs subcommittee on human rights, has expressed "revulsion
and outrage at China's vicious campaign of religious
persecution."
    He was echoed by Rep. Chris Smith ( R-N.J.), who added that
"China hasn't even come close to making the progress that would
allow the administration, in good conscience, to seek" an
extension of trade privileges.

     WHAT IS CHRISTIAN CRUSADE NEWSPAPER?
      Christian Crusade Newspaper is in its
42nd year as a monthly voice of Christian conservativism.
It has a worldwide circulation and is published by
Christian Crusade, P.O. Box 977, Tulsa, OK 74102.
     The newspaper is distributed free -- without charge -- to
subscribers as a result of the conviction of its founder, Dr.
Billy James Hargis, that he was not to put a price-tag on
the gospel. For your free subscription, just ask.
     Dr. Hargis can be E-mailed a number of ways:
          on America On Line as BJHargis,
          via the Internet as [e-mail] ,
          on Compuserve at 72204,541, and
          on GEnie via K.Wilkerson3.