{"id":2941,"date":"2022-02-04T12:41:32","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T17:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=2941"},"modified":"2022-02-04T12:41:32","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T17:41:32","slug":"voice-of-the-martyrs-calls-for-a-boycott-of-the-2022-winter-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/02\/voice-of-the-martyrs-calls-for-a-boycott-of-the-2022-winter-olympics.html","title":{"rendered":"Voice of the Martyrs Calls For a Boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Voice of the Martyrs, an organization that serves oppressed Christians globally, is joining other groups in calling Christians to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. However, VOM\u2019s call to action is unique because the group asks believers to take part in a prayer boycott. The 2022 Winter Olympics are set to start on February 4, 2022, through February 20, 2022. The Biden administration already implemented a diplomatic boycott of the Games. A diplomatic boycott means that while the government will support the participating American athletes, no U.S. officials will attend.<\/p>\n<p>White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the decision on a diplomatic boycott is due to China\u2019s \u201cegregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang.\u201d Other countries that have implemented similar sanctions include the U.K., Australia, and Canada.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/\">VOM spokesperson<\/a> Todd Nettleton said, \u201cThe Olympics are always filled with wonderful pageantry and inspiring athletic accomplishments. But let\u2019s not forget what the host government doesn\u2019t want us to see: imprisoned pastors, destroyed church buildings, and a complete lack of religious freedom. I hope every Christian will use each event and every Olympic update as a reminder to pray for our persecuted family members in China as the Scriptures instruct us to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another organization that supports persecuted Christians, Open Doors, is also calling for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Every January, the organization releases a World Watch List. This list ranks the top 50 countries in the world where Christians face the worst persecution due to their faith. When the 2020 Watch List was released, Open Doors CEO David Curry drew attention to China because its leaders created what he called \u201ca persecution roadmap against religious freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the 2022 Watch List was released, Curry restated his concerns about China, mentioning the social score leaders are giving citizens, the government\u2019s use of facial recognition technology, and the various ways officials are suppressing religious freedom. Authorities control the rights of Christians and other religious minorities, most notably the\u00a0Uyghur Muslims.\u00a0The\u00a0Trump administration\u00a0declared China\u2019s treatment of the Uyghurs, located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, to be \u201cgenocide,\u201d a label the Biden administration has also used.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, authorities are forcing churches in China to go underground while online churches are heavily monitored. The government-approved Three-Self Church isn\u2019t allowed to meet online at all. Chinese leaders are also censoring sermons and editing the Bible. Open Doors wants every Christian to join the boycott of the Olympics in support of the persecuted Christians in China. They don\u2019t even want people to watch the Olympics on television.<\/p>\n<p>The Olympics is when every nation comes together to support their athletes and show pride in where they come from. However, when the games take place in a country that\u2019s known for persecuting Christians, you can find yourself between a rock and a hard place. Various countries have chosen to participate in a diplomatic boycott, calling out China\u2019s treatment of Christians. Whether you watch the 2022 Winter Olympics is a personal choice, but think about what you\u2019re potentially supporting if you choose to watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Voice of the Martyrs, an organization that serves oppressed Christians globally, is joining other groups in calling Christians to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. However, VOM\u2019s call to action is unique because the group asks believers to take part in a prayer boycott. The 2022 Winter Olympics are set to start on&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":2947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Voice of the Martyrs Calls For a Boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An organization that serves oppressed Christians globally is calling for other Christians to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/02\/voice-of-the-martyrs-calls-for-a-boycott-of-the-2022-winter-olympics.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Voice of the Martyrs Calls For a Boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An organization that serves oppressed Christians globally is calling for other Christians to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/02\/voice-of-the-martyrs-calls-for-a-boycott-of-the-2022-winter-olympics.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ News Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-04T17:41:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" 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