When the U.S. State Department issued its annual report on international religious freedom in September, China came under fire for repressing Christians, Tibetan Buddhists and other religious groups. The State Department found that Beijing has reportedly expelled more than 100 foreign missionaries in an effort to "tighten control on Christian house churches prior to the 2008 Olympics.”

Time Magazine reported on Oct. 13 that a database set up by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China to monitor political and religious prisoners included 4,060 cases as of September. The past year saw a tightening of the screws on religion, the report said. “Protestant church gatherings that didn't register with the government were shut down, and Catholics blocked from contact with the Vatican. Independent clergy were detained and coerced.”

But, a different article in Time, published in September, said that Chinese officials are defending the country’s religious freedom record, emphasizing that all Chinese can worship as they choose with no restrictions.

Even some Christian groups report they have been able to work with the Chinese government. East Gates Ministries has been legally distributing Bibles to house churches in China for years, and its president says that Christians have effectively worked with the existing governmental structure.

Which is the accurate report? Does China persecute believers or allow free worship? It depends on whom you ask and how you define religious freedom.

David Aikman, himself a former Time correspondent and author of Jesus in Bejing: How Christianity is Changing the Global Balance of Power, says that when Chinese officials boast of the nation’s religious freedom record, they point to a number of “open” churches, temples and mosques. In a recent interview, Aikman explained that what is not mentioned is the rigid control the Communist Party exerts over these churches.

The Catholic Patriotic Association, whose leaders are selected by the Communist Party, decides who is going to be ordained as a priest and who is going to be a bishop, says Aikman. “But, there are Catholic churches that are quite open and can be attended freely in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities. It is possible, if you are a Roman Catholic, to worship with some degree of confidence that you are not going to be arrested.”

The Protestant equivalent of the Catholic Patriotic Association is the Three Self Patriotic Association, which was set up by the Communist Party in 1954. Aikman says the Communist Party uses Three Self “to control not only who the Protestant Church personnel are, but what is said in pulpits. It's essentially a scheme to bring all of China's Protestant clergy under government control.”