Graham discourages 'illegal' evangelizing in China

Missionary draws ire for call to obey Chinese law

Despite fierce criticism from some Christian activists, N.C.-based evangelist Franklin Graham said Sunday he's sticking by his opposition to any "illegal" missionary work during this summer's Beijing Olympics.

Graham, who recently met with state-sanctioned church leaders and government officials in China, told the Observer that as head of the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, he obviously supports evangelism. But he said he worries that the planned influx of American and other foreign missionaries into China for the Olympics could jeopardize freedoms Chinese Christians have won in recent years from the Communist government.

"I would be against any groups that would be coming in and encouraging people to break Chinese law," said Graham, who has no plans to attend the Olympics or send any missionaries. "As foreigners, we can come in and make some mistakes that would hurt the (Chinese) church. Then, long after we're gone, they suffer for it."

Graham encouraged the Beijing-bound missionaries to familiarize themselves with Chinese laws regulating religion. Those laws -- available at billygraham.org -- make it a crime for foreigners to evangelize without Chinese government approval.

Christian mission groups from around the world -- including Southern Baptists, "Youth With a Mission" and "Awaken Generation" -- plan to quietly defy the Chinese ban on foreign missionaries and send thousands of volunteer evangelists to Beijing.

The blogosphere has been buzzing about Graham lately, with some questioning and others condemning his stand against the missionary-invasion strategy. Some Christian e-writers and Chinese religious freedom advocates have charged that Graham's deference to the "atheistic" Communist government and Communist Party-controlled Protestant churches undermines independent underground -- or "house" -- churches whose members are often harassed, even arrested, by the state.

"Is Franklin Graham Compromising the Persecuted Church and the Gospel?" read the headline atop Stacy Harp's blog on the Web site for the Voice of the Martyrs, a group that helps persecuted Christians abroad.

Another site -- persecution.org, which also monitors worldwide mistreatment of Christians -- said that Graham's comments, first reported by The Associated Press in China last week, have "raised questions about his commitment to the presentation of the gospel when it comes into conflict with political pressure ... One wonders, since it is always illegal to evangelize in China, if the evangelist believes, then, that China should not be given the choice to hear the gospel at all."

Graham, who said he has not read the blogs, disputed the view that evangelism is not legally permitted in China. During his visit, he preached to 12,000 Christians at Chong-Yi Church, China's largest -- an event that was allowed because his trip was approved by the Chinese government and because it happened in a church registered with the government. Graham said he was told that the Three-Self Movement of Protestant Churches -- among those Christian groups officially sanctioned by the government -- has received approval to evangelize athletes during the Olympics.

"There's a much better relationship now between the church and the government than there's ever been," Graham said. "I had the opportunity to preach the gospel. Nobody told me what to say."

Graham did not meet with any pastors from unregistered or underground churches during this visit.

But he said the ones he did meet with -- at two pastor conferences -- "were men of God. I think it's kind of unfair to say that they have compromised (with the government)."

Graham, whose mother grew up in China as the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries, said he, too, has heard stories about persecution of underground church leaders. And he agreed that Chinese churches are much more restricted than U.S. churches.

"Is it perfect? Absolutely not," he said. "But in 20 years, I have seen tremendous change in China and I think we need to encourage the Chinese government to continue this program of change. It's easy to criticize and to sit back and denounce them for things. But I think we have to look at how far they have come."

Still, Graham's comments aren't likely to console some who track government raids on underground churches in China.

Bob Fu, president of China Aid, an advocacy group for persecuted Chinese Christians, said on his Web site that these unauthorized Christians "can not and will not (back) a `faith moratorium' in order to please an atheistic government during the Olympic Games, even if that means enduring imprisonment and torture. Mr. Graham's comment is a deep offense to hundreds of House Church prisoners and their family members."