(Minghui.org) Practitioners in our area felt that sharing the contents of House Resolution 281, which addresses the issue of transplanting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was a good vehicle for American people to understand Falun Gong and the factors behind the persecution. We found that visiting churches offered a good opportunity to reach concentrated groups of people, and was influential in persuading our congressional representative to co-sponsor this resolution.
H. Res. 281
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican congresswoman from Florida and the former Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives, and Robert Andrews, formerly a Democratic Congressman from New Jersey, initiated H. Res. 281. The Foreign Affairs Committee conducted a Full Committee Markup on July 30, 2014.
The language includes:
“(1) calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to immediately end the practice of organ harvesting from all prisoners, and particularly from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups;
(2) calls for a full and transparent investigation by the United States Department of State into organ transplant practices in the People’s Republic of China, and for the prosecution of those found to have engaged in such unethical practices;
(3) demands an immediate end to the 14-year persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice by the Communist Party of China, and the immediate release of all Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience;”
Church Visits
We wanted to collect signatures on a petition, condemning the CCP's practice of harvesting organs from living people, particularly Falun Gong practitioners, and to request that each church's congressional representatives sign on to H. Res. 281.
We initially chose to visit local public libraries on the weekends, but found the traffic flow slow. We then thought that maybe churches, where people congregate on Sundays, might be a good alternative. Parishioners tend to be from mainstream society and being more traditional, they are often difficult to reach through other avenues. Every pastor that we spoke with signed the petition.
Congressman Signs H. Res. 281 After Receiving Hundreds of Signatures
We visited all the churches in our city that we knew about. There was one minister who we spoke with during the break in her sermon. She really understood what we were talking about. After she finished her sermon, she shared this information with her congregation and urged them to sign the petition. Practitioners waited by the front entrance as the congregation exited and almost everyone signed the petition.
The staff at our electoral district office was very moved when we brought them the petition with hundreds of signatures. Immediately afterwards, our congressman co-sponsored H. Res. 281.
Video Killed for Organs Shown in Church
One Sunday morning we went to a Baptist church in the center of Bellaire, Texas. Pastor Campbell was giving his sermon when we arrived. We met him after he finished and told him that we would like to share something important with him. He enthusiastically took us to his office. We gave him a little background information on the transplant business in China, and then showed him a video about the CCP's harvesting organs from living people. Pastor Campbell was shocked and immediately signed our petition. He wanted his congregation to sign it as well.
We visited Pastor Campbell's church again two weeks later. He saw us as he was coming down from the pulpit, and invited us to join him there. He told his congregation about the CCP's practice of harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience. He then requested that we play the video Killed for Organs for his congregation. He told the congregation that there would be a petition at the entrance of the church and invited everyone to sign it. Many chose to do so.
Pastor Posts Killed for Organs on Facebook
When Father Alexander heard the words, “Such unprecedented evil has never before been seen on this planet,” in Killed for Organs, he became very solemn and signed our petition. He kept a signature sheet and planned to encourage more parishioners to sign it.
We again visited Father Alexander's church the next Sunday. He asked us to play the video, Killed for Organs, for his congregation on a large screen. Everyone that was present signed the petition.
Father Alexander then posted Killed for Organs, an eight-minute video, on his Facebook page for his 4,000 friends. He wanted more people to know what was going on in China and to give them the opportunity to sign the petition.
Chinese Pastor Signs Petition
Preacher Nelson listened to our explanation about this horrible crime, watched Killed for Organs, signed the petition and then escorted us to a different area in the church. He introduced us to a pastor of Chinese descent, who was born in China. We carefully and in great deal went over the evidence of organ harvesting, the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution. He didn't hesitate to sign the petition and thanked us for calling attention to the issue.
We visited churches during the week as well, and found opportunities to meet with ministers. For example, Father Franklin stopped what he was doing when he saw us. He listened to what we had to say, solemnly signed the petition, and sincerely thanked us for taking the trouble to tell him about such an important manner. He was very respectful and then escorted us out.
Encouraged by these experiences, we plan to visit more areas to collect signatures, so that more American people will understand the facts about Falun Gong, the persecution and the CCP's crimes of organ harvesting. We plan to continue to do this until the persecution ends.
