Chris Smith Condemns Xi Jinping for Religious Persecution in China

Global Religious Freedom Crisis

• 🌍 Religious freedom, considered America's first freedom, is a God-given right belonging to all humans, yet it is severely restricted in many countries.
• 📈 The persecution of religious groups is festering and exploding globally, with billions facing severe restrictions, incarceration, torture, and execution.
• ✝️ Open Doors 2025 World Watch list indicates over 380 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution for their faith.

Persecution Under Authoritarian Regimes

• ⛓️ Brutal dictatorships like China, Russia, Nicaragua, North Korea, Belarus, and Cuba are terrified of their people practicing faith freely, showing inherent weakness.
• ☪️ Authorities in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and parts of Nigeria heavily restrict independent religious activity, with blasphemy laws leading to the death penalty.
• 🇨🇳 In China, people of all faiths face deplorable treatment by the Chinese Communist Party, with Uyghur Muslims suffering genocide, forced labor, destroyed mosques, and suppression of their language.

China's Crackdown on Faith

• 🚫 Xi Jinping's regime is crushing people with faith through torture, jailing, rape, and murder, yet much of the world cowtows to Beijing.
• ⛪ China's "sinization" campaign bans foreign missionaries and the mere bringing of Bibles into the country.
• ✝️ A new crackdown targets Chinese Christians, with dozens of church leaders wrongfully detained, harassed, and mistreated.
• 🕊️ Bishop Shu Jiming, a leader of the underground Catholic Church, endured 30 years of imprisonment and prayed for his persecutors, only to be arrested again and disappear.

Business Complicity and Advocacy

• 💼 The U.S. business community is criticized for being complacent and complicit in China's human rights abuses.
• 🗣️ There's a call for businesses to demand an end to these persecutions, with Xi Jinping deserving to be at The Hague for crimes against humanity and genocide.
• 🇳🇬 Nigeria is also highlighted, with mass killings of Christians by extremist groups, and concerns raised about lobbying firms hired by Nigeria to influence U.S. policy.
• 📜 The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 is mentioned as a crucial piece of legislation that has made a global difference.
• 📢 Advocates are urged to champion religious freedom and an end to religious persecution worldwide.