As one of China’s efforts to show its religious openness to the world, its government-sponsored religious groups are busy training volunteers to provide visitors with religious services during the Beijing Olympic Games. From Reuters:
Beijing is setting up sites and training local believers to provide religious services for foreigners attending the Olympic Games, religious officials said on Wednesday.
Large numbers of religious faithful are expected among the athletes, coaches and tourists crowding into the officially atheist nation for the Olympics, opening on Aug. 8.
“Major religions in Beijing are all making preparations to serve the Games,” Imam Chen Guangyuan, president of the Islamic Association of China, told reporters in Beijing.
His association had been training volunteers in English and Arabic so that they can help with prayer services for visiting Muslims, Chen said.
Image: Muslim girls in northwest China. By Oansari2000, via Flickr.com
