Bob Fu of ChinaAid Speaks to YCT about Christianity, Communism

Tuesday, March 19, Trinity University’s Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) hosted Bob Fu. Fu is the founder and president of ChinaAid, a non-profit, Christian-based organization that advocates for human rights and religious freedom in China. ChinaAid gives financial and moral support to Christian Chinese families who have been persecuted by the Chinese government. His main goal is for Chinese Christians and other religious groups to express their religion with ease and without persecution from the Chinese government.

To begin his speech, Fu gave a short backstory about his earlier life and how ChinaAid came to be founded. While attending university in Beijing, he participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square student and intellectuals demonstrations. During which Fu and his girlfriend at the time, now his wife, Heidi, converted to Christianity. Soon after the Tiananmen Square Massacre, he was imprisoned in China for identifying as a Christian. It was these incidents in his life that highlight his history of fighting for freedom and democracy in China.

Bob Fu is not the only one to have been imprisoned for his religious beliefs. Even today, many Chinese Christians are being imprisoned for their faith. In fact, one who expresses his or her faith is considered a political dissident, which can warrant imprisonment.

“Hearing that from the point of view of someone who grew up under a regime like China was shocking,” said Daniel Mitchell, a junior at Trinity University.

However, it is not only Chinese Christians who are being persecuted for their faith. “One to three million Muslims are being put into concentration camps by the Communist Party,” explained Fu.

The Uyghurs, a majority Muslim ethnic minority from Xinjiang province, are being torn from their homes and sent to concentration camps by the Chinese Communist Party.

Fu further explained that the amount of Christians in China actually grew after the Tiananmen Square Massacre. He predicts that there will be over 200 million Christians in China within the next 20 to 30 years.

“It was interesting to see Fu’s predictions of the numbers regarding the amount of future Chinese Christians,” said Ian Kavanagh, a senior at Trinity University who worked at ChinaAid this past summer.

Fu is optimistic about the growth of the amount of Christians in China, he predicted there will soon be more than 200 million Chinese Christians. “Sooner or later, they [Chinese government] will realize that imprisoning these Christians will not be a sustainable policy,” he said.

Fu believes that imprisoning people for their faith will eventually become unsustainable because Chinese prisons “will not able to hold every single Christian in China.”

Even though religious persecution continues in China, Bob Fu will not give up. Today, he continues as president of ChinaAid to advocate for religious freedom and basic human rights in China. ChinaAid continues to support persecuted families in need and educating those who are not familiar with this issue.

Photo courtesy YCT.

YCT Hosts Lecture on American Exceptionalism

Monday, February 18, the Trinity University Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) hosted a speaker named Jonathan Dunne. Dunne is an Irishman who writes for theBlaze, an American conservative media company that provides television networks, podcasts, and news articles. Dunne came to Trinity University to speak about American exceptionalism from a European point of view. With a heavy Irish accent and great enthusiasm, he had many good things to say about the United States. Dunne shared that his lifelong dream is to become an American citizen, claiming to have been in line for citizenship for about 12 years.

American exceptionalism is one of the issues that Dunne is very passionate about. His sweatshirt read, “America is great because Americans are good.” He stated that one of the things that makes America different from every other country in the world is the idea that rights come from their creator, not from men or from the government. Rights are inherently given to humans just because they are human.

Dunne further discussed the founding American documents, namely the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. According to Dunne, the main rights that make up America today come from the Declaration of Independence. He said that America is different because we have a “God-given right to pursue happiness.” He quoted the Declaration of Independence’s famous phrases that “all men are created equal” and that humans have the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Dunne argues these documents prove that the United States is built upon exceptional, God-given values that cannot be given or taken away by men or governments.

“I admire how Americans are always so hopeful and always looking to the future,” Dunne said. During the talk, he expressed his admiration for how motivated and persistent Americans are when facing everyday life. He noted that the attitudes in America are much different from European attitudes. George Washington’s values were one of his favorite things about the foundation of the United States.

Students in the audience, mainly YCT members, seemed to enjoy Jonathan Dunne’s talk because most of the members agreed with Dunne that America is indeed exceptional and special. “I loved his passionate knowledge of America’s founding documents. His main argument was that America was the first nation to achieve a system of laws based on principles that mankind cannot alter,” said Isaiah Mitchell, junior english major and chairman of YCT.

More students expressed agreement with Dunne and admired his passion for America as a whole. “I liked how positive he is about America: past, present, and future, noted Victoria Ydens, a freshman classics major and member of YCT. She added that it was “a refreshing change from the usual negativity.”
Young Conservatives of Texas will continue to host speakers in the future. The next speaker on their schedule is Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid.

Disclaimer: Emma McMahan is the social chair of YCT at Trinity.

Photo by Samantha Farnsworth.