The following article originally appeared on the IRD website in 2009, and has been modified for today.
For six weeks in the spring of 1989, courageous young Chinese dissidents demonstrated for freedom and democracy in Tiananmen Square. Students from universities all over China heard the call of freedom and traveled hundreds and thousands of miles to join the movement that was demanding nothing more than that which every human being, created in the image of God, has a right.
Twenty-five years ago today, it was June 4, 1989, those peaceful protests culminated in a massacre. We may never know how many thousands of unarmed students and other protestors were mowed down by the Chinese Communist government’s gunfire and tanks. But we must never forget these men and women who wanted the kind of freedom they knew existed beyond the repressive borders of the People’s Republic of China. What we in America have taken for granted for so many years could only be dreamed of by these demonstrators.
IRD will not let those who are persecuted and whose freedom is taken away in China be forgotten. Courageous Chinese Christians grace our lives, a procession of faithful witnesses to the Gospel. And in the wake of the dream of freedom for China crushed by Communist tanks at Tienanmen Square, many of the original heroes of the movement have embraced the freedom found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The fusion of the pro-democracy movement and the Chinese Church is proving to be shaking up China as never before. Journalist Evan Osnos in the Chicago Tribune reported in 2009 that “China is in the throes of an unprecedented religious awakening,” and that “from coastal boomtowns to inland villages there are churches that have become major parts of public life.” Those throes continue, the unprecedented religious awakening goes on, and churches are more of a part of public life than ever before.
IRD has highlighted the plight of those who have been arrested and put in labor camps. We have mobilized church members and other concerned citizens to pray and be advocates for Chinese Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, and other victims of Chinese government oppression. And we continue to fight for strong U.S. government policy on China. We will not accept the notion that the government of this country could put economic and environmental concerns above concern for the human rights of fellow human beings! And we thank God that there are valiant members of the U.S. Congress, like human rights hero U.S. Representative Christopher Smith (R-NJ) who also refuse to accept this!
Today we pause to thank God for the courageous witness of the heroes of Tienanmen Square and to ask Him to bless China’s burgeoning Church and bring freedom to all of the people of China.
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