Jul 10, 2007
The Becket Fund is proud to announce the completion of a new documentary, “God in China: The Struggle for Religious Freedom.” The film, written and directed by Becket Institute Director Raphaela Schmid, and produced by Yago de la Cierva of Rome Reports TV News Agency, was previewed for students, professors and journalists on June 28 in Rome.
The film’s focus is on the state of religious freedom in China. Despite the Chinese government’s opposition, China has thriving underground religious communities that the government has been unable fully to control. Members of these communities were interviewed for the film, and offered their unique perspectives on the struggle for religious freedom in China. Practicing religion is an act fraught with peril in China, and many clergymen have been arrested for adhering to their faith, rather than yielding to state directives.
Becket Fund International Director Angela C. Wu said, “Religious freedom is the best marker of an open society because it implicates free speech, freedom of association, and even property rights. This film is an incisive look at a poorly understood and underreported phenomenon in a country whose human rights record has not kept pace with its economic growth.”
In November Ms. Schmid co-authored and produced a documentary on the state of religious freedom in Turkey called “Turkey at the Gates of Europe.” It was broadcast on several European TV channels. For more information on that film, click here
The Becket Institute is the academic arm of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The Becket Institute supports scholarship on the legal, anthropological, philosophical, and political dimensions of religious liberty.