Chinese govt's repression of Christians

[Luke]

"China is undergoing a diverse spiritual renaissance – Daoism, Buddhism and Islam have all seen a significant increase in believers. But there is one religion in particular that has experienced phenomenal growth, Christian evangelism.

The number of worshippers remains unknown, as there are two types of church in China - the officially sanctioned churches and the underground churches.

But with the government concerned that a growing evangelist movement could threaten social harmony, the state is cracking down on groups that try to stay out of government control; and, as this film shows, on those who try to report on it."

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes ... 41957.html

This video focuses on Christians in China, but these issues of religious repression in China are encountered by people of all faiths in China.

May religious freedom spread throughout China!
Om Mani Peme Hung

[PadmaVonSamba]

One of the main reasons why Evangelical Christianity is popular in China is because it is very American, and thus very cool.

[Huifeng]

"China is undergoing a diverse spiritual renaissance – Daoism, Buddhism and Islam have all seen a significant increase in believers.
...

I doubt that Buddhism has really seen any "significant increase in believers". More likely is that during the communist take over, especially during the cultural revolution, the country was officially atheist, so there were technically no believers. Now, the lid is off, and so people can simply publicly profess whatever religion they (and probably their family) has followed for the past thousand years or so.

The start of the republic of China saw massive amounts of anti-religious feeling, and now the materialistic culture is hitting it's peak, thus turning many back toward religion.

As the saying goes: 物極必反. Ad nauseum.

~~ Huifeng

[Kyosan]

What are these restrictions on Christian evangelists? The video wasn't clear about it. I suspect they are mostly restrictions on proselytization.

[Huifeng]

What are these restrictions on Christian evangelists? The video wasn't clear about it. I suspect they are mostly restrictions on proselytization.

In the PRoC, any religious event can only take place on a designated "religious site", and permission from the State Authority for Religious Affairs (SARA) is always required. Any religious group works in tandem with the equivalent SARA body, at national, provincial, city or county level. The people in the SARA body are all party members, of course, and mostly are not followers of that (or any) religion. And they have the bottom line power to decide whether or not to allow whatever activity to take place. SARA in turn is under the Cultural Bureau, and that is under the United Front Dept (which was originally the party people that unified Maoist thought in all activities).

[Kyosan]

In the PRoC, any religious event can only take place on a designated "religious site", and permission from the State Authority for Religious Affairs (SARA) is always required.

I did some research on this topic once before. As I recall, churches/temples etc. are supposed to be registered with the state and some of the Christian groups don't want to do that. And proselytizing is a big issue. In China, there are legal limits on how far churches can go in proselytizing. Especially evangelical churches, like featured in the video, like to proselytize and some of them in China believe that there should be no limitations placed on their doing that. They regard limits placed on their proselytizing as being religious repression.

[mindyourmind]

One of the main reasons why Evangelical Christianity is popular in China is because it is very American, and thus very cool.

I would say that right there you have one of the main reasons for its growth.

It is quite funny then that in the USA its not all that cool anymore. A bit of a culture lag.

[Luke]

What are these restrictions on Christian evangelists? The video wasn't clear about it. I suspect they are mostly restrictions on proselytization.

There are government spies in churches and Christian priests in China cannot talk about certain topics, such as the Chinese government's policy of forced abortions.

Also, Chinese Christians can only worship legally at the government-run churches. And Christian priests in China are under surveillance by the Chinese government.

[PadmaVonSamba]

.

[PadmaVonSamba]

Also, during the Catholic Mass, during communion where the priest would normally recite the liturgy
at the point where Jesus says
“Take this and eat it, all of you; this is my Body which will be given up for you"
instead, they changed it to:
"Take this and divide it equally among the workers and peasants in the struggle against running dog imperialists and their lackeys".

[Epistemes]

What are these restrictions on Christian evangelists? The video wasn't clear about it. I suspect they are mostly restrictions on proselytization.

There are government spies in churches and Christian priests in China cannot talk about certain topics, such as the Chinese government's policy of forced abortions.

Also, Chinese Christians can only worship legally at the government-run churches. And Christian priests in China are under surveillance by the Chinese government.

There was even some controversy a few months back when Bob Dylan performed in China for the first time. As some here may know, Bob Dylan once aligned himself very strongly with the Evangelical Christian right - and his position even now is largely ambiguous (like pretty much everything else about him). Dylan had to produce his setlist to Chinese authorities months in advance whereupon the lyrics for each song were checked for references that might contain any seed of dissent or revolution. Dylan played some of his even more popular protest songs, including "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking" from his Christian years.

The problem with Christianity, as is often the case with most religions, is that it is anti-establishment. This might seem like a paradox when one views the Catholic Church with its Vatican and its Magisterium, but Christianity is predicated upon the "cry of the poor." At least, that's one version of it, and often the one preached to those who need to hear it. Many priests and ministers are in prison for preaching such a message, which is why there are government spies in the pews.

[Luke]

:rolling: .

What's so funny about a severe lack of religious freedom? It's an enormous burden on the lives of religious Chinese people.

[PadmaVonSamba]

What's so funny about a severe lack of religious freedom? It's an enormous burden on the lives of religious Chinese people.

I accidentally posted the same post twice but couldn't find the 'delete post' button so I just left the rolling head there.
I should have left just a dash or something. I went back and deleted the rolling head.
Aside from that, I have an irreverent sense of humor.