(ChurchLeaders) Dr. James W. Carr, who is with the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), has become an advocate for two church leaders who were arrested and imprisoned because of their faith. Carr has committed to working for the release of A Dao, the lead pastor of an unregistered church in Vietnam, and for Deacon Zhang Wen Shi, who ministered to North Koreans in China’s Changbai region.
“Deacon Zhang committed no crime and took no action against North Korea,” said Carr in a press release, “and yet he now languishes in a prison camp because the regime is terrified of religion. Sadly, Deacon Zhang is far from unique. He is one of the thousands of Christians and other religious believers held in political prison camps.