American Religion Scholars' Reaction to the Xinhua News Agency's Accusation of Falun Gong Founder

NOTE: Xinhua News Agency is Chinese government's official news agency.

(The following, including the names of people and organizations, is a translation based on Chinese text of the report)

FARS: Xinhua News Agency published an article on April 17 accusing the founder of Falun Gong of "serving as the lackey of world's anti-China forces." What is the American religion scholars' opinion on it? The following is an interview by Yang Jiadai, a reporter of the Free Asia Radio Station.

FARS: A Xinhua commentary written by the author called Xin Wen said that the fictitious tale that the Chinese government prosecutes innocent civilians, prosecutes Falun Gong practitioners on a large scale made up by the founder of Falun Gong has become important evidence for "some anti-China force of America" to "make" the resolution to criticize the status of China's human rights. The commentary said that the founder of Falun Gong and his followers "have taken off their masks" and "served as the lackey of world's anti-China forces." Arhammed, president of a US religion research institute, "Freedom Light Tower," was interviewed. He criticized the Chinese government's accusation of the founder of Falun Gong.

Arhammed: "The accusation of Li Hongzhi just deceives the facts. As it is well known, the Chinese government's crackdown on Falun Gong was first. America's resolution to condemn its persecution of Falun Gong and its violation of human rights was afterwards. The question is: the leader of which religion in the world would sit by and watch his followers to be persecuted?"

FARS: Bright, a professor at Basin Institute in Columbia, USA and an expert on religion and public life, said,

Bright: "The Chinese government treats the criticism of its human rights condition as a violation of China's sovereignty, which shows the Chinese government refuses to accept the common standard of the international society. The Chinese government has never presented to the world convincing evidences regarding Falun Gong endangering the society. Since the Tiananmen Square event, China's human rights condition has been getting worse day after day."

FARS: The commentary also explained that since over 1,500 people [supposedly] died of Falun Gong's harm, it is Falun Gong that violates human rights, instead of the Chinese government. For this, Bright, the professor of Basin Institute in Columbia, said,

Bright: "From my point of view, Falun Gong doesn't treat illness, nor sell medicine. It only emphasizes the curing effect physiologically from the practice and cultivation of Falun Gong. How could one blame Falun Gong for the death of the people? Since the Chinese government accused Tibetan Buddhism of the same, it is not surprising."

FARS: Arhammed, president of a US religion research institute "Freedom Light Tower," said, "The Christian Science Church in America doesn't agree with curing illnesses by taking medicine either. If the government cracks down on the Christian Science Church, most American people will not tolerate it. Curing illness without taking medicine is a viewpoint. Taking medicine or not is a choice of one's own. If one doesn't like to take medicine, then that means he is convinced by this viewpoint. It is not the fault of Falun Gong, if one is convinced by the teachings of Falun Gong. The Chinese government could distribute the point of view differently from that of Falun Gong, but nobody has the right to persecute a different point of view." Arhammed suggested that the Chinese government should respect people with whom they don't agree.

Professor Bright also said,

Bright: "If the Chinese government wants to be recognized by the international society, the first step to be taken is to guarantee the freedom of religion. The freedom of religion in a society is the ultimate freedom. Having the freedom of religion or not is a gold test stone to examine whether a society has realized freedom."

Bright: "The Western countries often want to do business with China. If the business could not improve the freedom, the meaning of business is very limited."

The interviewer was Yang Jiadai, a reporter of the Free Asia Radio Station.

(April 18, 2000)

(Translated Apr. 26, 2000)