Religious Rights: China’s Xinjiang Province Has More Mosques Than All of the United States

June 25, 2019 (EIRNS)—Ripping into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his State Department’s “blatant interference in China’s internal affairs” and “wanton slander” of China’s policy on religion and policies in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Chinese Foreign Ministry Press spokesman Geng Shuang yesterday raised some pointed questions about U.S. religious freedom and civil rights.

“The Chinese government protects its citizens’ freedom of religious belief and people of all ethnic groups enjoy full religious freedom in accordance with law. There is a total of nearly 200 million believers, including 20 million Muslims, more than 380,000 clerical personnel, approximately 5,500 religious groups and about 140,000 places of worship registered for religious activities in China. There are 24,400 mosques in Xinjiang, which means a mosque for 530 Muslims on average....

“In sharp contrast, the religious and human rights situation in the U.S. is disturbing. According to poll results released by Gallup and Pew Research Center, 42% of Americans say that they are very concerned about race relations and 75% of Muslims believe there is serious discrimination against them.

“According to publicly available statistics, the number of mosques in the U.S. is even less than one-tenth of that in Xinjiang,” he reported.

Pompeo is ramping up his “religious freedom” campaign—not incidentally also a favorite hobby-horse of the British Monarchy and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. The State Department is hosting the second Ministerial To Advance Religious Freedom internationally on July 16-18, which Pompeo announced today will “provide a platform for survivors of religious persecution from around the world to tell their stories of courage and endurance.”