On this episode of International Reporters Roundtable, we shine a light on the persecution of people of faith. This doesn’t just come from oppressive regimes—a dangerous trend is also emerging in free societies. Three groups stand out: Christians, Jewish communities, and Falun Gong practitioners.
Christians, murdered in parts of Africa and increasingly suppressed elsewhere, are now being labeled as terrorists in the United States. A vastly outnumbered Israel is being bombarded, while many Jewish students feel compelled to hide their identities on college campuses.
Meanwhile, Falun Gong practitioners in China are hunted down and robbed of their organs while still breathing—and those living in the United States are monitored, sometimes attacked, or their families back in China are threatened.
Why are people of faith a target? Why does the United States still do business with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) … when they know of the imprisonment, torture, and killing of people of faith? July 20th marked the 24th year since the CCP began its violent suppression of Falun Gong practitioners. They’ve been marching in Washington D.C. ever since, and are still being ignored.
This country was founded on its people having a moral conscience, and liberty for all. Yet here, too, faith is under attack by the government and media. Is it perhaps due to a belief in a higher authority than that of the establishment?
Our guests Jennifer Zeng, China expert and podcast host; Bradley Martin, journalist with the Jewish News Syndicate; and Reggie Littlejohn, award-winning human rights activist, help us answer that question.
Jennifer Zeng then shares with us her personal story of faith and freedom as a Falun Gong practitioner in communist China. How she started out as a member of the CCP, survived the brutality of Chinese concentration camps, and escaped to the United States to join others in speaking out against the persecution.