The conflict between the Chinese government and the Falun Gong really is a conflict between the government and an exploitative, coercive cult leader. Without realizing it, Falun Gong practitioners are being exploited—everything they do benefits their master, Li Hongzhi, who manages to avoid all accountability for his actions. The fact that these practitioners all present the same false images of Falun Gong to the public and the fact that many of them have abandoned their families or even their lives shows that they have been severely indoctrinated by master Li and have lost the ability to think for themselves.

While the majority of China’s citizens support the government’s ban on the Falun Gong, there are protests against the ban in the west, particularly in the United States. The prevailing attitude in the west towards the Chinese government is one of distrust and it’s that attitude which makes an objective analysis of the Falun Gong so difficult. Chinese people in China understand that their government is not a democratic government. However, with an understanding of their history and benefiting from an improvement in living standards and personal freedoms, they believe the government is working towards the right direction. Most importantly, given China’s recent history of wars and unrest caused by political movements, Chinese people crave and demand social stability. It’s in this historical and cultural context that the social disturbance provoked by the Falun Gong in China can correctly be deemed a threat.

While human rights groups perceive the ban of the Falun Gong as a violation of human rights, focusing on those practitioners who are being put into jail, Chinese people perceive the ban as liberation and point to the majority of the Falun Gong practitioners who left the Falun Gong after the ban. These people are now living happier lives free from exploitation and harm from Li.

The Falun Gong practice of not seeking medical treatment puts practitioners’ health as well as the general public’s health in great danger. Falun Gong practitioners’ many unlawful harassments towards innocent critics were acts which violated others’ freedom of speech and also threatened the public order. In light of the fact that the U.N. specifically cites the need “to protect public safety, order, health or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others” as a justifiable limitation on religious freedom, the ban of the Falun Gong in China can not reasonably be judged a human rights violation.