Moolenaar: Chinese Communist Party 'Denies Citizens the Joy of Christmas'

WASHINGTON DC — Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party made the following statement on Christmas and religious liberty in China:

“As Americans celebrate Christmas this week, I pray that one day the people of China will be able to enjoy freedom of religion. Ever since Jesus arrived in a manger, rulers from Herod to Xi Jinping have tried to silence the news of his birth and they have always lost. Right now, the Chinese Communist Party denies citizens the joy of Christmas, forces people of faith to either worship in secret or submit to the state, and jails many religious followers indefinitely. Those persecuted by the CCP today have been courageously steadfast in their faith and they are an inspiration for all those who stand against the Party’s brutal oppression. As Americans, we are blessed to live in a nation that values religious liberty, and in the competition between the United States and the CCP, our nation’s freedoms will be victorious.”

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom says the CCP harasses “Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong and other religions. Independent experts estimate that between 900,000 and 1.8 million Uighur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other Muslims have been detained in more than 1,300 concentration camps in Xinjiang.”