RELIGIOUS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Exiled Uyghur Imam says he’s unable to speak with family since 2017.
Washingtone Times reported a Chinese pastor who led more than 60 members of his Presbyterian congregation in southwestern China to asylum in the United States told members of Congress Wednesday “there is no religious freedom” in the communist superpower.
The Rev. Pan Yongguang said, “There is a real price to pay for being a true Christian in China, and as a pastor, I am especially aware of this. Churches are often forced to stop [holding] services, they are relocated, banned and closed. And even their church offerings are not allowed to be collected.”
Mr. Youngguang said CCP officials viewed his ministerial training and ordination by the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States of America as “colluding with anti-Chinese forces overseas,” and subjected him to subsequent persecution.
China has controlled religious affairs in Tibet for decades, and in recent years began a persecution campaign against Muslims in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China.
Mr. Youngguang said he and his church members — called the “Mayflower” community after the religious refugees who came to Massachusetts in 1620 — were “threatened and intimidated to varying degrees” after they fled China for South Korea, and then journeyed to Thailand, before being granted asylum in the U.S. in April.