Open Doors USA Chief Executive Officer David Curry reiterated his call to Christians to boycott the upcoming 2022 Beijing Olympics in February during a press conference on Wednesday.
The Christian Post said Curry pointed to the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of Christians and other religious minorities as the main reason in calling for a boycott. The Christian Post highlighted that Curry made the statements in line with the unveiling of Open Doors USA's 2022 World Watch List during the press conference.
Last month, Curry urged American Christians to boycott the said Winter Olympics through an op-ed at The Hill, co-written with former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback. Curry and Brownback highlighted China's "ongoing history of human rights abuses" as a reason for the boycott. They called President Joe Biden's declaration of a diplomatic boycott of the said Olympics as "more symbolic than substantive" and, as such there is a need for action through the boycott.
"A diplomatic boycott of a sports event is more symbolic than substantive. The only way to apply sufficient pressure to China is to hit them where it hurts: in the pocketbook. The communist nation's leaders are famously rapacious about economic growth, which means they are vulnerable to the decisions of everyday consumers in places like the United States. Now it's up to America's 200 million Christians, and all who care about human rights, to force a change in course by boycotting Beijing's Olympics," Curry and Brownback said.
"As the Olympics commence this winter, China is still actively committing mass genocide against its own citizens. Over a million Uyghur Muslims are interned in a prison camp system designed to crush resistance to Beijing's orders and erase Uyghur culture. Tibetan Buddhists, the Falun Gong and many others have also suffered unspeakable abuses at the hands of an authoritarian government determined to cut off any threat to its control, real or perceived," they underscored.
During the press conference, Curry revealed China ranked 17th in its 2022 Watch List that presented the "top 50 countries where it's most difficult to follow Jesus." Curry disclosed that the Chinese Communist Party is using the Olympics to bring out of the limelight their numerous violations.
"(The Olympics is) one example of how China is using sports, money and investment in infrastructure around the world to whitewash their human rights violations. I am suggesting that people don't watch the Olympics, that they don't participate in whatever way they normally would," Curry divulged.
Curry then explained China's ranking to be lower despite the call for the boycott since there are harsher persecutions happening elsewhere based on what they know. He then went on to highlight the religious persecution inflicted by China on religious minorities in their country such as the Uyghurs and Christians. He expressed concern over China's "centralized" control to manipulate religious minorities.
"What's not happening and...why it is lower is because they're not lining people up and shooting them, at least that we're aware of. That's happening in some places," Curry reasoned.
"(China's) centralized government control to suppress and exterminate the free practice of religion of all kinds. China's high-tech noose is slowly choking the free expression of Christian faith and the faith of Muslims and other religious minorities," Curry stressed.
The United States Senate in mid-December approved a law on an import ban on Chinese goods from Xinjiang Province in line with the Uyghur minorities being forced into labor and other human rights violations inflicted by the Chinese communist government.
