Hardwired: On the Frontlines of Freedom

Despite being hardwired for freedom, nine out of ten people around the world live in places where basic human rights and fundamental freedoms aren’t a reality. Join Founder and President of Hardwired Global, Tina Ramirez, every Wednesday as she interviews human rights champions who are fighting on the frontlines for the dignity and freedom of others in countries where freedom is most fragile. Each guest shares their personal and sometimes heart wrenching story in their pursuit to ensure freedom of belief and conscience for the most vulnerable. Prepare to delve into the complexities of human rights and pluralism in countries plagued with instability and conflict. If you haven’t already, you may even begin to question the promise of freedom in your own country. Visit our YouTube channel to view the video recordings of this interview series: bit.ly/HWchannel

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Hardwired: On the Frontlines of Freedom

Dr. Bob Fu, ChinaAid

October 26, 2021 • Hardwired Global • Season 1 • Episode 8

In this conversation, Dr. Bob Fu talks with Hardwired Global founder and president, Tina Ramirez, about his imprisonment and torture at the hands of authorities in the Chinese Communist Party. He describes how he eventually escaped China with his pregnant wife, Heidi, to avoid a forced abortion. Dr. Fu also relays the founding story of ChinaAid, which advocates for human rights in China and outlines the work he does to help rally awareness of the injustices commonly inflicted on Chinese people. He describes the suppression of his testimony by Chinese guards before a United Nations council and he details Chinese operatives targeting him at his home in Texas. He warns about the dangerous trend of Americans embracing communist ideals.

Watch the interview on Hardwired's YouTube channel here: bit.ly/FuInterviewYouTube

Dr. Bob (Xiqiu) Fu is one of the leading voices in the world for persecuted faith communities in China. Dr. Fu was born and raised in mainland China and was a student leader during the Tiananmen Square demonstrations for freedom and democracy in 1989. He was also a house church leader in Beijing until he and his wife, Heidi, were imprisoned for two months for “illegal evangelism” in 1996. They fled to the United States as religious refugees in 1997 where Dr. Fu founded ChinaAid in 2002 to bring international attention to China’s gross human rights violations and to promote religious freedom and rule of law in China.

Dr. Fu graduated with a Ph.D. from St. John's College at the University of Durham in the U.K. in the field of religious freedom. He graduated from the Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree on Global Christian Leadership from Midwest University, where he has served as a distinguished professor on religion and public policy. Dr. Fu is a member of Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese Law and Religion Monitor, a journal on religious freedom and the rule of law in China, and as a guest editor for Chinese Law and Government, a journal by University of California, Los Angles.

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