China President Urged to Listen to Plight of Persecuted Chinese Christians
A prominent Chinese Christian leader has written an open letter to China's president, calling him to listen to the suffering of country's innocent persecuted Christians.
In the letter, released Wednesday by the China Aid Association (CAA), Pastor Zhang Mingxuan, president of the Chinese House Church Alliance (CHCA), tells the story of how he became a house church leader and leader of CHCA. He also lists incidences of persecution against Christians such as beatings, imprisonments and tortures.
Despite the contribution of the CHCA to charitable causes – particularly to aiding orphans and the homeless – the organization has been subject to more persecution in the time before and after the 17th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
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Local police reportedly asked Zhang and his family to close down his house church along with his school and a nearby orphanage.
In his letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao, Zhang said, "It is my belief that this persecution is a result of the corruption of officials subordinate to the central government, failure to enforce the law in a strict way, distortion of facts and evildoings and collusion between the local despots and the officials."
Zhang urged the president "to seriously consider the misery of the common people and urge the officials subordinate to you to stop persecuting Christians and implement their promises in the Constitution on religious freedom.
"We can have a harmonious society when we build it on the foundations of love, friendship, fairness and justice," he added.
Zhang said that the desire of Chinese Christians is "to win justice for the common people in China so that the Chinese society is full of love and care and that China can become free, prosperous, and a real powerful country in the 21st century in both soul and in social system."
He finished by saying, "We sincerely pray to the Lord to punish the evil and promote the good so that the common people can receive blessings and that China will have real religious freedom. I believe this is also the wish of President Hu. I hereby pray to God to bless you and all the officials in power, to give them more wisdom in ruling China."
In related news, the CAA reported that a house church led by Pastor Gao Wendong in Linyo City, Shandong Province, has won a legal battle against the local police.
The church was represented by Beijing Christian lawyer Ms. Wu Chenglian and was helped by Zhang. On Nov. 17, the church won its legal battle and had its confiscated property returned.
