Luis Palau, a Spanish-speaking Evangelist, began his tour in China to sign a book proposal that will launch and create content for a proposed book, which was co-authored with the Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and formerly Minister of Information Zhao Qizhang.
On Thurs morning in Shanghai at press briefing, Nov 17, Palau and Zhao expressed their reflections on the book titled "A Dialogue Between A Christian and An Atheist" which will be a transcription of conversations on issues of religion, philosophies between Palau and Zhao.
Palau and Zhao expressed that people should live with "unity in diversity" by respecting each other, especially between believers and non-believers and between people of different faiths and beliefs.
Palau said that since he began the series of dialogues with Zhao on religious and philosophical issues in May of early this year, both of them seem like they have known each other for a long time. These dialogues were "very serious", and it stimulated him to think about problems that he never thought about in the past 30 years; and the motive for publishing the content of the dialogue is to stimulate people with different societal background to deepen their understanding of each other, and to facilitate partnership in building a peaceful world.
Zhao expressed that faith, language, and educational backgrounds are not obstacles to mutual understandings. The perspectives in the dialogues that he had with Palau were clear, yet they were able to converse on a friendly basis. He said it was a breakthrough. In addition, he complemented Palau, as a philosopher and theologian, who is skilled in being terse and reasoning, using simple language to convey difficult concepts. Thus, their conversations were conducted very effectively.
"There are over 2,000,000 Christians around the world and about 1,000,000 Atheists in China. The dialogue that we held represented the exchange between two very important groups of people on earth." Zhao compared their dialogues with a parable saying that it is like "Throwing two stones into a calm lake": "even though both stones produced ripples of wave, the most beautiful part is when the rippling waves came together."
Regarding this visit to China, Palau called this trip "A Unusual Tour." Palau further stated that looking from the perspective of Christianity, to be able to speak with an atheist on a friendly basis and then publishing a dialogue is a pioneering work, which will help America understand more about China.
Christian communicator and author Luis Palau's faith-based ministry has taken a message of hope and inspiration to an estimated 20 million people in 70 nations. His radio broadcasts in both English and Spanish are heard by millions more on over 2100 radio stations in 48 countries and authored close to 50 books.
After the press briefing, Palau will also meet with Presbyter Ji Jianhong, chairman of the National Three Self People's Movement, and Madame Cao Shengjie, president China Christian Council. On Sunday, he will preach at Gang Wa Shi Church.
