Yesterday, Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and members of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party held an interfaith roundtable on the CCP’s threat to religious freedom. Members and distinguished guests discussed the CCP’s persecution towards Christian, Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, and others unwilling to put the decrees of Xi Jinping ahead of their god.
Chinese Pastor Pan Yongguang was a featured guest of the conversation, sharing the harrowing details of his church’s escape from the regime’s persecution in China. In April, the United States granted Pastor Pan and members of Mayflower Church asylum after CCP agents targeted, harassed, and tried to kidnap members of the Christian congregation in Thailand where they previously fled.
Uyghur Imam Hajim also delivered his testimony to participants, describing the personal risk taken to publicly speak out. Imam Hajim warned the room that the CCP’s long arms can reach deep into the United States, even threatening those who speak out on US soil.
Prominent leaders present included:
Rabbi Abraham Cooper – Chair, US Commission for International Religious Freedom | Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action for the Simon Wiesenthal Center
David Curry – Commissioner, US Commission for International Religious Freedom | President and CEO of Global Christian Relief
Imam Mohamad Magid – Commissioner, US Commission for International Religious Freedom | Executive Religious Director of All Dulles Area Muslim Society Center | Chairman of International Interfaith Peace Corps
Rev. Frederick Davie – Vice Chair, US Commission for International Religious Freedom | Strategic Advisor to the President at Union Theological Seminary (NYC)
Pastor Pan Yongguang – Mayflower Church of China | Granted asylum by the US in April 2023
Dr. Bob Fu – Founder & President of China Aid | Religious Refugee from China
Pastor Bob Roberts – President, Institute for Global Engagement | Co-Founder of Multi-Faith Neighbors Network
Imam Hajim – Uyghur Imam living in the United States
Bhuchung Tsering – International Campaign for Tibet
Pastor Corey Jackson – Pastor, Trinity Park Church (Cary, NC)
Tony Perkins – President, Family Research Council | Former Chair, US Commission for International Religious Freedom
Father Kurt Klismet – President, Trinitarian International Solidarity (S.I.T) – USA, Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives in the Roman Catholic Church
Watch key moments from the roundtable below, broadcasted HERE.
View photos of the roundtable HERE
Chairman Gallagher:
“The Chinese Communist Party is rewriting the bible… In churches across Henan province local CCP officials replaced the Ten Commandments with Xi Jinping quotes – like, ‘Thou shall have no other God before Me,’ became dictates like, ‘Resolutely guard against the infiltration of Western ideology.”
Click HERE for downloadable video of Chairman Gallagher’s remarks.
Click HERE to read Chairman Gallagher’s opening remarks as prepared for delivery.
Pastor Pan:
“The Liberty Bell has rang at every juncture in Americans’ fight for freedom. I ask you to ring the bell of freedom and pray for the early realization of religious freedom in China without being silent. Amen.”
Click HERE for downloadable video of Pastor Pan’s remarks.
Imam Hajim:
“The Chinese government also extended its long arms to other countries… We are not safe, even in the U.S. The Chinese government continued to harass us, threaten us, and even force some Uyghurs to spy for the Chinese government.”
Click HERE for downloadable video of Imam Hajim’s remarks.
Tony Perkins:
“China’s repressive actions do not discriminate. All religious groups are seen as a threat to the Chinese regime.”
Click HERE for downloadable video of Tony Perkins remarks.
Imam Mohamad Magid
“The people who have left those camps [in Xinjiang] have talked about the indoctrination and how the government tried to have them change their belief systems. About 900,000 Muslims, children, have been separated from their parents.”
Click HERE for downloadable video of Imam Magid’s remarks.Rabbi Abraham Cooper
“Religious freedom conditions in China remain among the very worst in the world, and in the past decade of the situation has deteriorated consistently under the iron-fist rule of the Chinese Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping…”
Click HERE for a downloadable version of Rabbi Cooper’s remarks.
