This was my letter to the Attorney general of the United States regarding the unfair decision/s denying Xiondong Li, a persecuted Chinese Christian asylum in this country. You can contact Alberto Gonzales at the e-mail address below, and tell your representatives in congress your concern over this decision.
Subject:
Please Overrule Unfair Denial of U.S. Asylum for Xiondong Li, China
To: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov.
Alberto Gonzales
United States Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
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Dear Mr. Gonzales,
Christian Freedom International (CFI) has brought this critical situation to my attention and I am strongly urging you to use your authority to examine and (rightly) overrule the unfair ruling/s given by Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and Board of Immigration Appeals which denied U.S. asylum to Mr. Xiaodong Li, of China.
* An article by the Alliance Defense Fund concerning case of Xiondong Li.. http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3514
The board very wrongly concluded Xiaodong Li had actually left China because he "...feared legal action or prosecution, not persecution." The board said he was punished for "illegal activities and not for his religion." The decision to deny him asylum and send him back to the authorities in China was not only unconscionable, but also a violation of his basic human rights.
This unfair ruling has determined to return him right back into the hands of those who (through threats and physical torture) coerced a confession of “illegal house church” activity from him in the first place. Mr. Li and a few friends had been meeting weekly to do a bible study and sing hymns. There is a huge difference between two or more being gathered in His name to study the Word and give praise and the running of a church, and the U.N says individuals have this right to privately worship in China.
This man fled a nation of oppression and religious persecution and came to the United States (a land built upon the premise of religious freedoms and liberty) hoping to find freedom from persecution, but is now rewarded (for his faith in us, the U.S.A) with merciless rejection. The actions of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and Board of Immigration Appeals are shameful.
In Communist China the authorities work hard to suppress the growth of Christianity and will use a combination of fear-based threats, physical beatings and torture (sometimes resulting in death), destructions of home and property (in Li’s case, electric shocks were used on him in addition to beatings by the police) to extricate confessions of “illegal house church” activity from many Chinese Christians.
China is a member of the U.N. and basic human rights of it’s people should be upheld but this is not Happening. Contrary to the public “face” that the Chinese government tries to present to the world concerning religious freedom, the grim reality is far of many Chinese Christians is far removed.
Very few requests for new church permits are ever granted even to those who are willing to submit themselves to the control and authority of the “state sanctioned version of Christianity” (a very poor substitute and mere shadow of true Christianity) currently “allowed” by the government. This has resulted in a growing number of house churches who do not possess an “official permit”. For those who fear the dangerous consequences of belonging to these unauthorized house churches many have chosen to worship in the privacy of their own homes without any kind of church setting or organization in place.
According to the U.N Article these individuals should have a clear right to worship without fear. Unfortunately they are targeted for extreme persecution by authorities who will stop at nothing to suppress the spread of Christianity. The Chinese Communist solution to achieving that goal is fear, torture, imprisonment, destruction of home and property, all used as weapons to often procure “false confessions” or to force them to publicly renounce and promise authorities that they will stop practicing their Christian faith.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations) states:
Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
The U.S. court system has essentially approved further human rights violations of Xiaodong Li and also set a dangerous and shameful precedent for our nation… But you as an individual are empowered to do something to change that and make it right, I hope and pray that you will. Religious persecution is alive and well in China and many other nations, if we are to no longer recognize or acknowledge this we truly have become a nation without mercy and without a soul.
