WASHINGTON—Lawmakers and faith leaders have called for action against the continuing persecution of faith groups in China, with several saying that communism is fundamentally at odds with religious freedom.
“Communism is not compatible with religious freedom, because communism is worship of the state, and so it takes the place of God,” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) told The Epoch Times. “And it’s really sad, because communism has failed everywhere it’s tried.”
Wilson had just finished speaking in a packed hall at the U.S. Capitol complex, where hundreds had convened for a conference to discuss challenges for religious freedom worldwide.
In an earlier speech, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), chair of the congressional International Religious Freedom Caucus, warned the audience not to take religious freedom in the United States for granted.
“We are so very fortunate here in the United States of America, and I know there’s some bumps in the road, but we have religious freedom,” he said. But that’s not the case in China and elsewhere.
“Intolerance breeds in the vacuum of silence. We must elevate religious freedom. This issue must be a permanent pillar of our foreign policy.”
He flagged Beijing’s high-tech-powered repression of people who practice the spiritual discipline Falun Gong and of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region of China.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) speaks during the International Interfaith Conference, “United in Liberty: The Rise of Spiritual Diplomats,” in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
“They’re just practicing their faith, their religion; in some cases, it’s meditation,” Bilirakis said. “This is happening, folks. It’s happening every day. China currently leads the world in the arrest and sentencing of believers.”
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual meditation practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. It spread by word of mouth to reach more than 70 million people during the 1990s, before the regime began a systematic effort to eliminate the faith group in 1999.
In Xinjiang, communist authorities have detained more than 1 million Muslims in internment camps.
Both groups have faced forced labor, sexual abuse, and other forms of torture.
Uyghur activist Rushan Abbas witnessed the abuses firsthand. In 2018, days after Abbas spoke at a public panel about mass incarceration in China, authorities arrested her sister, a retired medical doctor. Her sister remains in jail.
Rushan Abbas, Campaign for Uyghurs executive director, speaks during the International Interfaith Conference, “United in Liberty: The Rise of Spiritual Diplomats,” on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
“Our religion, our language, our names, our identity, our faith—everything is being erased,” said Abbas, who founded Campaign for Uyghurs to raise awareness of the issue.
Janice Trey, board chair of The Epoch Times, shared her experience growing up in a labor camp during the Cultural Revolution, a tumultuous 10-year communist campaign marked by violence, death, and destruction of valuable cultural heritage.
Having lived through a variety of political persecutions, she said, motivates her to “give a voice to the voiceless.”
Part of that is about countering information censorship in China, she said.
Janice Trey, board chair of The Epoch Times and NTD, speaks during the International Interfaith Conference, “United in Liberty: The Rise of Spiritual Diplomats,” in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
She pointed to state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting, in which prisoners of conscience such as Falun Gong practitioners are targeted, to fuel the communist regime’s lucrative transplantation industry. The human rights violation, which is a taboo topic in China and has drawn alarm from the U.S. State Department and Congress, has been “used as an instrument for religious persecution,” she said, and it “still goes on today.”
Trey and Abbas both warned that the repression does not stop at China’s borders.
“Under Xi Jinping’s order, transnational repression has spread globally through subversion, deception, unrestricted warfare, and the erosion of moral and religious traditions abroad,” Trey said, referring to a secret meeting at which the Chinese leader escalated the regime’s strategy to eliminate Falun Gong.
In the meeting in late 2022, Xi directed Party cadres to target overseas Falun Gong practitioners through disinformation and lawfare.
In one case, two men in the United States were caught conspiring to bribe the IRS to strip the nonprofit status of Shen Yun Performing Arts, a group founded by Falun Gong practitioners. Both men received prison sentences.
Abbas said that the Chinese Communist Party has “perfected the system of total control” in her homeland for export to authoritarian regimes worldwide.
“We stand at a turning point here,” she said. “Silence is the oxygen for tyranny. Unless we hold China accountable, it will be your children and grandchildren who will pay the consequences.
“We are all responsible for what happens next.”
The International Interfaith Conference, “United in Liberty: The Rise of Spiritual Diplomats,” in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
