Palau's friendship with atheist results in new book

     BEIJING, China — Amidst fanfare seldom seen in China, Portland-based international evangelist Luis Palau and China official Zhao Qizheng recently released their highly anticipated, co-authored book Riverside Talks: A Friendly Dialogue between an Atheist and a Christian.
     Palau, of course, is the Christian, and Zhao the professed atheist.
     The book’s release took place during a packed press conference at the Beijing International Book Fair in late August. The media event was cut short when the enthusiastic crowd of assembled journalists, photographers and TV crews rushed forward to interview the authors and get autographed copies of the historic book.
    "This is the first time in the history of China that an international religious leader has been permitted to sign copies of his book in a large public secular venue," said Shen Weiping, vice president of the China Association for Inter-national Friendly Contact For the fourth time in two years, the association hosted Palau at a state dinner held at the Diayutai Government House, considered the “Camp David of China.”
     Another senior government official said of the press conference, “This is amazing, very un-Chinese and very historic.”
     At two different press events well attended by mainstream national Chi-nese media, Palau carefully explained what it meant to be a true follower of Jesus Christ and how someone can find peace with God.
     Zhao told reporters the book and his friendship with Palau is a model on how two people with different backgrounds and ideologies can have a dialogue with opposing views and still be good friends. Zhao is vice chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and former Minister of Information for the People’s Republic of China.
     Two years ago, Zhao suggested to Palau that the two leaders co-author a book in an effort to build bridges and mutual understanding. The suggestion was embraced by Palau, and the two men began a series of face-to-face conversations.
     The transcripts of those dialogues became the content for the book.
Palau and Zhao reminded journalists that the book represents a dialogue, not a debate, between an atheist and a theist, between a scientist and a Christian evangelist, between a Marxist scholar and a religious scholar, between a leader from the East and a leader from the West.
     Palau and Zhao began their series of the recorded dialogues in Beijing on May 20, 2005 and again in Shanghai on Nov. 16-17, 2005.
     More than eight hours of dialogue was captured during the three separate meetings. The book is an exchange on philosophy, history, religion, the Bible, creation, atheism, Confucianism, politics, ethics, Chinese and Western cultures, and the relevance of Jesus Christ to society.
     Zhao said, “Through our dialogue, I did overcome somewhat my initial concern about the difficulty of communicating between people with different cultural backgrounds. I now believe that in-depth understanding is possible as long as there is a will to communicate.”
     Palau said, “I love China. I want the best for this great nation and everyone within its borders. And now, after getting better acquainted with such a wonderful leader as Mr. Zhao Qizheng, my love and respect for China has only grown greater.
    “I believe with my whole heart that God loves China. I believe He has a special message for China and wants nothing more than to share His love with the entire nation.”
     Palau has been allowed to speak at a variety of events in China since 2000. Some of those events were evangelistic and others promoted charitable activities and opportunities in China. The evangelist’s visits to China have been widely reported, some controversial.
     But Palau believes each trip to China is getting him closer to his lifelong dream to one day hold an open-air festival in China with government approval.
     Palau and Zhao’s Friendly Dialogue book is being released throughout China in government bookstores and in thousands of other outlets in both Chinese and English. The American version of the book is scheduled for release by Broadman & Holman in the coming months.