Christian Radio Stations Beamed To Chinese

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30396, 21 March 1964, Page 14

Christian Radio Stations Beamed To Chinese

A woman in Communist China Rad to seal her closet. with blankets to keep the sounds being heard outside when she wanted' to Raton, to Far East Broadcasting programmes beamed from the Philippines or Okinawa, said the radio company’s president (Mr R. H. Bowmrin) in Christ- .

■ church yesterday. '' .-... Sixty hours J of , Christian programmes were broadcast each day- by the company's 11. international . stations in the Philippines, he said. Letters from . Communist China proved thousands of persons there listened clandestinely to- thfe broadcasts. The Chinese attempted, to “jam”, all the news: broadcasts of the Okinawa, arid Philippines stations, but only 40: per to 50 per cent effectively, in their best attempts, he said. •. “They are getting better at ‘jamming’ than they used to be,” he said.’ . Mr Bowman said that till three years ago, the Russians had attempted to “jam” all his news broadcasts but‘then suddenly ..stopped- About , the same time the Russians

stopped “jamming” the 8.8. C. .news services. ■ One- good, reason,-he. said, why So- many Chinese listened to his station’s broadcasts was. that it effected a radiated power on one milliori watts into China on the regular standard band. • ■'

“In Shanghai, it sounds just like a local station/’he said. ■■■- . ■ ■

Mr Bowman, who. travels in Asia six months of each year, said he had heard on Moscow Radio, .an .astounding statement jri. a discussion bn the freedom bf religion.

The Russian statement was, he said: “It is impossible to legislate God and religion' out of the.human heart.” The Russians had tried to for 40’years, said Mr-Bow-man, but they had discovered it could riot be done.

Mr Bowman said the Russians had now started another tack in .an attempt to' beat Christianity. “They are teaching atheisiri within the: Soviet Union and are trying to make it truly militant in Soviet youth,’? he Said-. ’ ■

•'ln China the pastor is a Communist-controlled man who has to “turn in" his sermon for Sunday the Wednesday before; to b.e checked by the- Communist Party, Mr Bowman said, , , -

“There is always a party member in tee congregation on Sundays' to see ? that the pastor, keeps to the - prechecked script.. ’ “The Chinese try-to. brainwash and indoctrinate so that the message at'the Church be-' comes, more or less, a politi--cal religious message.” he ■said'; 1 . *•. . The Far East Broadcasting Company, with a book value of £SQO;OOp, was started .by Mr". BAwinan . and two, American friends 18 years agb. wlth only ’slightly more than £3OO among ihetn. ' '••>" , It is non-commerbial, Protestant, non-sectarian.. : Mr. Bowman will speak in Christchurch this evening andtomorrow evening.