Washington, D.C. — On the evening of May 13, the headquarters of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) became a gathering place for some of the most committed voices in the international religious freedom movement. The occasion was the launch reception for China’s War on Faith, a landmark new book by former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, co-authored with journalist Michael Arkush. The event was co-hosted by the International Religious Freedom Summit and the NED — two pillars of the global advocacy community.

Published by Republic Book Publishers and released May 12, 2026, the book documents what Brownback describes as a deliberate, well-funded campaign by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to eradicate religious faith — not only within China’s borders, but as a strategic instrument of its bid for global dominance. The reception marked a special evening to celebrate the book’s arrival and to amplify the voices of those who have lived through the persecution it documents.

The atmosphere was one of moral urgency tempered by community and solidarity. Attendees mingled around high-top tables beneath the NED’s iconic blue backdrop — “Supporting Freedom Around the World” — while a large screen displayed the book’s striking cover art: a stylized red dragon looming over chained figures. Ambassador Brownback offered brief remarks, signing copies for attendees and welcoming the opportunity to take photographs with guests, including survivors and advocates who have dedicated their lives to this cause.

Among the most powerful dimensions of the evening were the testimonies woven throughout — stories of Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims, Falun Gong practitioners, and others whose experiences form the evidentiary backbone of the book. The reception followed directly on a major discussion at the Hudson Institute on May 12 — “China’s Persecution: Assault on All Faiths” — where survivors including Uyghur detainee Mihrigul Tursun, Tibetan Buddhist leader Arjia Rinpoche, Falun Gong practitioner Wang Chunyan, and Hong Kong activist Frances Hui shared their accounts alongside Brownback and Arkush.

China’s War on Faith — which carries a foreword by author and evangelical leader Joel Rosenberg — argues that the CCP spends billions annually on surveillance, control, and what Brownback calls an “extermination effort” targeting believers of all stripes. The book documents three ongoing genocides inside China and frames the struggle of religious communities as central to resisting what Brownback describes as the CCP’s drive toward a “New World Order of Communism, Atheism, and Totalitarianism.”

Key themes running throughout the book include the CCP’s deployment of digital authoritarianism — advanced surveillance technologies now exported to regimes worldwide — and the argument that religious faith poses an existential threat to CCP control, making persecution not an incidental feature of the regime but a central pillar of its strategy. The book calls on the free world to treat religious freedom as a genuine national security priority, supporting what Brownback calls “heroes of the faith” who resist at enormous personal cost.

The reception served not only as a celebration of the book’s release but as a rallying point for a broader coalition: policymakers, human rights advocates, faith leaders, and survivors united around the conviction that silence in the face of this persecution is not an option. As Brownback has stated in related interviews, the CCP’s war on faith is ultimately a war it cannot win — but only if the free world refuses to look away.

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