Moments after celebrating the 70th anniversary of the first Chinese bishops consecrated in Rome, John Paul II delivered an emotional message to his suffering flock in China.<\/p>\n\n
The underground church is a \u201cprecious pearl,\u201d he said, in a Dec. 3 broadcast into China on Manila\u2019s Radio Veritas. The pope praised the 6 million or more who refuse to surrender and join \u201ca church that corresponds neither to the will of Christ, nor to the Catholic faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
This was a clear reference to China\u2019s state-run Catholic Patriotic Association and the latest sign that John Paul won\u2019t surrender in China or Hong Kong. Still, his words drew little media attention. Few U.S. publications have much room, today, for international news and religion news remains a low priority. Thus, it would be hard to name a subject with less journalistic sex appeal than religion news on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n\n
Meanwhile, China is cracking down \u2014 closing many secret parishes and jailing clergy, including at least four bishops. Last fall, reports circulated about more attacks on China\u2019s 60 million or more underground evangelicals, while officials circulated a wanted list of 4,000 illegal pastors.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to get precise numbers. \u2026 But all the reports agree: more Christians are in jail in China because of their faith than in any other nation in the world,\u201d said Jeff Taylor of Compass Direct, a news service that covers global religious issues.<\/p>\n\n
Recently, he noted, his Hong Kong reporter showed a Chinese leader a Far East Economic Review cover that said \u201cGod is Back.\u201d The Beijing official replied, off the record: \u201cIf God had the face of a 70-year-old man, we wouldn\u2019t care if he was back. But he has the face of millions of 20-year-olds, so we are very worried.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The China crisis was one of many in 1996. Christians were slaughtered in Indonesia and East Timor, where Catholic Bishop Carlos Filip Ximenes Belo was given the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet another Protestant leader was murdered in Iran. The slave trade continued in Sudan. Terrorists kept killing Catholic priests in Algeria. In Kuwait, Christians remained in hiding.<\/p>\n\n
The oil keeps flowing from many of these nations, mixed with blood. Markets are growing, and so are the graveyards. What this story needs is a political hook to yank it into the headlines.<\/p>\n\n
Last year, a coalition of religious conservatives and human rights activists convinced Congress to hold hearings on religious persecution. This year, the subject may surface in confirmation hearings for Secretary of State-nominee Madeline Albright. Also, Republicans may ask about the persecution of Christians in China and Indonesia, while digging into White House fundraising efforts among that region\u2019s amoral entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n
But words are no longer enough, said conservative Jewish activist Michael Horowitz. It\u2019s time to pass laws similar to those used against the former Soviet Union in the 1980s. Clues to the shape of this legislation can be seen in a 1996 \u201cStatement of Conscience\u201d by the National Association of Evangelicals, which called for:<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 \u201cPublic acknowledgment of today\u2019s widespread and mounting anti-Christian persecution,\u201d including a presidential address, the appointment of a White House advisor on the issue and detailed rules for U.S. diplomats on how to deal with persecution claims.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 \u201cMore fully documented and less politically edited\u201d reports from the State Department\u2019s Human Rights Bureau. Human rights officers could, for example, be required to research claims of persecution, rather than choosing an \u201coption of silence\u201d in their annual reports.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Cessation of the Immigration and Naturalization Service\u2019s \u201cindifferent,\u201d \u201coccasionally hostile\u201d and often unreported handling of asylum petitions by refugees fleeing religious persecution.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 And, finally, the \u201ctermination of non-humanitarian foreign assistance to countries that fail to take vigorous action to end anti-Christian or other religious persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not talking about utopia,\u201d said Horowitz, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. \u201cIn the 1980s, no one could stand up and vote in favor of persecuting Soviet Jews. That\u2019s what has to happen now, if we\u2019re going to stop China and these other regimes from murdering and torturing Christians.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Moments after celebrating the 70th anniversary of the first Chinese bishops consecrated in Rome, John Paul II delivered an emotional message to his suffering flock in China. The underground church is a \u201cprecious pearl,\u201d he said, in a Dec. 3 broadcast into China on Manila\u2019s Radio Veritas. The pope praised the 6 million or more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n