Yesterday, at a press conference here in Washington, members of the underground house church in China detailed the increasing persecution and torture of Christians at the hands of the Chinese government. Ms. Liu Xianzhi, a 34-year-old member of the underground church, recounted her experience of torture and imprisonment by the Chinese police. She was brutally beaten by the police and forced to falsely accuse her pastor of "raping" her. Her pastor, Gong Shengliang, is now serving life in prison based on the multiple "confessions" obtained through torture. Religious persecution has accelerated in the last few years as the Chinese government attempts to put a halt to the rapid growth of the Chinese church.

These abuses in China have brought a renewed focus by congressional leaders and the UN. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention recently released a formal opinion in the case of Mr. Yinan Zhang, a Chinese church leader sentenced to two years of "re-education through labor." He was convicted of "subverting the national government" after police discovered his personal prayer journal. The UN working group concluded that China's arbitrary detentions are a violation of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. It's time for policymakers to take a stand for human rights and religious freedom in China. I encourage you to stand with our brothers and sisters in China by urging President Bush and Congress to hold China accountable for its persecution of the Church.

News Source http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU05B09