Religious Freedom Advocates Discuss the Impact of 9/11

Voice of America Chinese website published a video: Religious Freedom Advocates Discuss the Impact of 9/11 Video link: Full text: The 9/11 terrorist attacks 25 years ago changed America, and also changed the lives of many people. At a luncheon in Washington on Thursday, former US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Brownback and recently released Pastor Kim Young-il discussed the meaning of 9/11 for religious freedom and human rights. I believe we have done very well, although there were some sporadic attacks during this period, but in the past 25 years, we have not encountered another attack like 9/11, and we shifted to a proactive approach. Before that, we have always been attacked, but no effective response was made at the time. After 9/11, we clearly stated that we would no longer tolerate this situation, we would respond, and we would take a strong response, and we indeed did so. Shifting to a proactive approach has actually brought greater protection, we need to adopt this approach worldwide, and that is what we have been doing. At that time we were still in Beijing, and it caused a very great shock to us. We had read Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" at that time and discussed it a lot. We have been shocked by the destruction of the buildings. When we truly saw the buildings being destroyed, the shock was incredible. This also affected America, and now it also affects China, the entire world can never go back to the past. For many witnesses and people who have long been concerned about religious freedom, commemorating 9/11 is not only a look back at the past, but also a reflection on the present, and how the United States should face the issues between security, freedom, and human rights in the future. Reporter Xu Xiangjun reports from Washington.