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"Essentially," Buwalda said of the Fifth Circuit ruling, "you've removed religion as a basis of gaining asylum."

Chris Bentley, a spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services bureau, declined to comment on the impact Li's case could have on other asylum applicants. The agency is "reviewing the judges' decision, and then we'll take appropriate actions," Bentley said.

Li's Houston-based attorney, Garrett White, said his client, now 32, plans to appeal, both to the full ring of Fifth Circuit judges and to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Alliance Defense Fund has joined Garrett as co-counsel.

That an immigration judge on up to the Fifth Circuit found Li's story of prosecution credible makes it all the more perplexing to his backers how the court failed to recognize his persecution.

Li was among 30 million to 60 million Chinese citizens who worship in illegal independent house churches. China officially recognizes five religions: Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Islam, and Taoism. So-called patriotic religious organizations sanctioned by the government supervise religious groups. Protestants such as Li must register with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement committee. About 10 million to 15 million citizens have registered as Protestants, according to Chinese government reports.

Registered religious groups have faced numerous restrictions for decades, said Caleb Weatherl, a researcher with the China Aid Association, a Texas-based advocacy group for persecuted Chinese Christians. For example, he said all church instructors must be approved by the Chinese government.

The Chinese law against unregistered religious activities is "simply an institutional form of persecution," according to the immigration judge who tried Li's case.

Not so, the U.S. Attorney General's Office argued. In prosecuting Li for engaging in illicit religious activities, China was simply motivated by a desire to maintain social order, not persecute based on his religious beliefs, the office contended.

The line between religious belief and religious activity in Li's case is a fine one, according to the Fifth Circuit judge writing the opinion in the case.

"While we may abhor China's practice of restricting its citizens from gathering in a private home to read the gospel and sing hymns, and abusing offenders, like Li, who commit such acts, that is a moral judgment, not a legal one," he wrote.

Because the Chinese government tolerates Christianity, so long as it's practiced in a registered group, the Fifth Circuit concluded that reasonable and substantial evidence supports the Board of Immigration Appeals decision that Li was punished for illegal activities and not for his religion.

Andrew Painter, senior protection officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said he plans to soon meet with officials from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice to discuss Li's case and the harm the court ruling could cause to future asylum seekers.

Painter said the Fifth Circuit decision "seems to miss the point" and sets an "artificial distinction between religion and religious activities that would not appear to be justified."

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September (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49