Christian pastor's daughter urges US lawmakers to help free her father in China

WASHINGTON (AP) — The daughter of a detained Chinese Christian pastor is urging U.S. lawmakers to help free her father at a time when President Donald Trump has vowed to “save our Great Christian population” worldwide.

Appearing before a congressional panel Thursday, Grace Jin Drexel said her father, Ezra Jin Mingri, was formally charged this week along with 17 other leaders of the prominent underground Zion Church. They were detained in October in one of China's largest crackdowns on a single church in decades.

It is among the largest churches that are unregistered with the Chinese authorities, defying restrictions from the officially atheist Communist Party requiring believers to worship only in registered congregations.

“My father started Zion in order to worship freely in a church that put God as the sole head of our church, like many faithful Christians everywhere," said Jin Drexel, who lives in the United States. Yet, worshippers “were harassed, threatened and interrogated."

As she urged members of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China “to use the authority entrusted into your hands and to not forget us,” another hearing was playing out on Capitol Hill where lawmakers praised the Trump administration's decision to designate Nigeria again as a “country of particular concern” over allegations of failing to rein in the persecution of Christians.

Trump has focused on Nigeria

Trump has said on social media that Christianity “is facing an existential threat in Nigeria” from “radical Islamists." He threatened to go in “guns-a-blazing” to stop the killing of Christians and said he told the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action.

Nigeria, where ongoing violence affects both Christians and Muslims, has seen two mass abductions at schools this week. Students were kidnapped from a Catholic school Friday and others were taken days earlier from a school in a Muslim-majority town. In a separate attack this week, gunmen killed two people at a church and abducted several worshippers.

While the U.S. already has dubbed China a country of particular concern over religious freedom, Rep. Chris Smith, who attended both hearings, suggested that Trump should also keep a focus on Christians in China.

“I think the president would be moved by a meeting with all of you,” the New Jersey Republican told Jin Drexel before leaving to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Christians in Nigeria. “God hasn’t forgotten, nor should we, nor should the president of the United States."

The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The foreign ministry said in October that the government manages religious affairs in accordance with the law and opposes the U.S. using religious issues to interfere with China’s domestic affairs.

White House says it's aware of Christian leaders' detentions in China

A White House official, who wasn't authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president is aware of the Zion Church leaders who were detained and that he “will always champion religious freedom around the world.”

Shortly after Ezra Jin Mingri was taken away in October from his home in Beihai in China’s southern Guangxi region, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Beijing to release him and other church leaders.

“This crackdown further demonstrates how the CCP exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches,” Rubio said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party by its acronym.

Now, the 18 church leaders have been formally arrested and charged with illegally using information networks and are being held in Beihai, according to CSW, a U.K.-based rights group for religious freedom. The charge likely stems from the church’s use of the internet to share its faith. If convicted, each could be sentenced to up to three years in jail.

China's crackdown on Christianity and other religions

In China, authorities have long sought a tight grip on all religious groups and are particularly wary of religious beliefs in ethnic regions such as Xinjiang and Tibet. The government has cracked down on independent Christian congregations over the past decade, destroying crosses, burning Bibles, shuttering churches and ordering followers to sign papers renouncing their faith.

Zion Church, founded in 2007 in Beijing, grew to have 1,500 members in a decade and was targeted in 2018 after church leaders refused to install facial recognition cameras in its sanctuary, Jin Drexel said. Authorities shuttered church buildings and seized its assets that year, she said. Her father was banned from leaving the country.

Zion Church developed a hybrid online-offline model to expand its audience in China, reaching as many as 10,000 people a day, she said. The group CSW says the church is estimated to serve at least 5,000 members and is one of the largest unregistered churches in China.