The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is urging President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to raise religious freedom concerns with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of his expected Sept. 24 visit to Washington.
According to Baptist Press, the Southern Baptist entity is calling on U.S. officials to press China over its treatment of religious minorities and imprisoned Christian leaders.
In separate Sept. 9 letters, ERLC President Evan Lenow called on the administration to press China over its treatment of religious minorities, advocate for the release of eight imprisoned Zion Church pastors and confront what Southern Baptists have described as genocide against Uyghur Muslims.
Lenow urged Trump to tell Xi that the United States “will not tolerate continued suppression of religion in China,” while also calling on Rubio to raise the same concerns in anticipated meetings with Chinese officials.
The ERLC argued that China’s policy of Sinicizing religion and requiring religious communities to conform to Communist Party priorities conflicts with international religious freedom standards. The letters also cited a 2021 Southern Baptist resolution condemning the treatment of Uyghurs and the denomination’s more recent advocacy for international religious freedom.
“The International Religious Freedom Act established religious freedom as a central goal of United States foreign policy by creating the Office of International Religious Freedom within the Department of State and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF),” Lenow notes in the letters.
“The State Department and USCIRF work to monitor religious freedom abroad and provide recommendations on diplomatic responses to violations. In its 2026 report, USCIRF continued its recommendation for China to be designated a Country of Particular Concern for its disastrous record on religious freedom.”
The ERLC’s appeal comes alongside advocacy from groups including ChinaAid and Voice of the Martyrs, which have called attention to imprisoned Chinese Christian leaders. The ERLC noted that although Zion Church pastor Ezra Jin Mingri was released earlier this year, eight of his colleagues remain in custody.
ChinaAid founder Bob Fu has estimated that more than 10,000 people have been arrested during China’s decade-long campaign against Christians. An estimated 44 million believers attend state-approved churches, while approximately 115 million worship in unregistered congregations, a figure projected to double before 2030.
Ryan Brown, CEO of Open Doors US, told The Christian Post that pressure on Christians is increasingly taking the form of surveillance, regulation and the closure of unregistered churches rather than only overt physical violence.
“The Chinese government has really sought to close down a number of the unregistered churches — those that were not officially aligned with the Communist Party, and close those churches out,” Brown said.
“Last year, on September 25, they rolled out a list of guidelines, about 18 rules governing the online behavior of Christians and religious expression. This included things such as Christians are not allowed to broadcast any live videos with religious or Christian intent; access to Bible apps was made illegal.”
“It's not as visible as the violence or churches being lit on fire, but churches are being closed,” he added. “Christians are being told that they can't engage in worship or engage in community with one another.”
