China's underground Christians flock in state's shadow
20 Nov 2005 04:21:39 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Chris Buckley

BEIJING, Nov 20 (Reuters) - U.S. president George Bush underscored his call for religious freedom in China by attending a tightly controlled service on Sunday at one of Beijing's state-run "patriotic" Christian churches.

"My hope is that the government of China will not fear Christian who gather to worship openly," Bush told reporters outside the Gangwashi church in Beijing.

The unfettered worship that Bush, who calls himself a born-again Christian, advocates is perhaps better displayed in Pastor Deng Xiaobin's church on the city's northern outskirts.
Deng leads worshippers in prayer in an apartment that serves as an unofficial "house" church, one of thousands of underground churches growing in the shadows of official tolerance.
Most of China's underground churches are in the countryside, where Christianity survived decades of persecution under Mao. Story