The Olympic Games are underway, and I must say I really enjoy them. It’s not just the events that I rarely see, though it’s fun to be an armchair “expert” on curling, luge, and speed skating for a couple weeks every four years. No, there also does seem to me to be something beautiful about nations looking past their differences and disputes — if only briefly — for side-by-side sporting competition.

But should I be enjoying this Olympics?

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That’s a question I have been contemplating after reading an editorial on February 9 titled, “Why We’re Not Watching The Winter Olympics.” It’s co-authored by David Curry, president of Open Doors USA, and former U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback.

Open Doors is a strong advocate for Christians persecuted around the world, so I’m always interested in what its leaders have to say. And Brownback — well, he’s long been among the statesmen I respect most in Washington’s halls of power. I value his heart and voice.

And both men are boycotting the Games because they are in China.

“The ceremonies celebrate teams from such a wide array of religious and ethnic backgrounds that a casual observer may assume that China is a bastion of pluralism and tolerance. The opposite is true,” they wrote.

Curry and Brownback instead say the communist government in Beijing is using the Games as a propaganda tool. One Bloomberg article they link to exposes China’s growing tactic of insisting it is a model democracy with moral high ground over America’s systems that purportedly feature the “rule of the few over the many.” Now that may sound laughable, but the Bloomberg reporter suggests the strategy may actually be making inroads in certain parts of the world.

In contrast to the propaganda of openness and cooperation, Curry and Brownback say China “treats its own minorities as criminals to be surveilled and hunted.”

Hunted. That is a strong word. But Open Doors has China in position #17 on its World Watch List for a reason. The group has found that Christians are under intense scrutiny and are even at risk of abduction or “re-education.”

That is alarming, but I think what really struck me the most in this editorial was Curry and Brownback’s comparison of these 2022 Olympics in Beijing to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin during the Nazi regime.

Curry and Brownback wrote, “When Berlin hosted the 1936 Olympics, the world already knew of Hitler’s ongoing persecution of Jews. The games fueled his propaganda machine, positioning Nazi Germany as a benevolent and cooperative member of the international community while downplaying the massacre escalating at their hands.”

“The IOC’s decision to award Beijing the 2022 Winter Olympics lets history repeat itself,” they added.

Now whenever I hear someone make a comparison to Hitler, I am immediately cautious. Too often such comparisons, even if well-intentioned, are a stretch that can actually serve to downplay the seriousness of the evil that happened at the hands of the Nazis. But I don’t believe that is the style of these leaders. They  are careful with their words, and they knew what they were saying.

The fact is the United States and other nations have determined that China is guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. These determinations come after investigations found communist officials in  China’s Xinjiang region were persecuting approximately a million Uyghur Muslims and other minorities there for years. The State Department’s 2019 International Religious Freedom Report revealed that these minorities in Xinjiang were victims of “forced disappearance, political indoctrination, torture, physical and psychological abuse, including forced sterilization and sexual abuse, forced labor, and prolonged detention without trial because of their religion and ethnicity.”

So it seems Curry and Brownback have reasons for their comparison.

But what of watching the Olympics? Again, I find a beauty to the Games and watching them this year I am struck anew by the richness of China’s land, culture, and people. And that makes me all the more sad and disturbed by the actions of the current communist regime.

Curry and Brownback made their decision to boycott and encourage others to join them. But they do recognize fellow Christians may speak up for their brothers and sisters in Christ in China in other ways. One Open Doors resource says:

Whether you choose to boycott or not, let’s continue to be a voice for the voiceless and take action. Share articles on China’s atrocities and spread the truth on social media about what is actually happening behind closed doors. Have discussions with your families, small groups, and church leaders about ways to help the persecuted in China. And maybe more than anything—pray.

This article is one way I will speak up for victims of the totalitarian regime. As billions of eyes are tuned into China in these weeks, how will you speak? How will you pray?

Aaron Mercer is a Contributing Writer with two decades of experience in Washington, D.C.’s public policy arena.

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)