Religious Left

Audra Ang at the Associated Press reports ; Qin Gang, a China Foreign Ministry spokesman, insisted last week that Chinese citizens have complete religious freedom. Hua Huilin said he and his brother, Hua Huiqi, a member of Beijing's underground Christian church, were stopped by security agents in two black cars on Sunday on their way to the Kuan Jie Protestant Church around dawn. The pair was taken away in separate cars, and Hua Huilin said he was released a few hours later. He said his brother, however, remained missing. China allows worship only in officially approved churches. In a more recent story by Andrew Jacobs at the International Herald Tribune ; Hua Huiqi, a religious dissident who was detained by the authorities Sunday as he made his way to a church service where President George W. Bush was scheduled to pray, has escaped from the police, according to human rights advocates and family members. Hua said the officers had confiscated his Bible and watched him as he prayed....