Indeed.Accepting the use of authoritarian (and often brutal) measures to crack down on modes of thought that you disagree with probably isn't be best approach to building a progressive society.
I followed a link from Drudge just now, and although the headline’s source is not reputable (it’s the UK's Express), the facts aren’t in dispute, and many sources from the NY Times and WaPo to HuffPo have reported on the ongoing attempts to smother Christianity in the People’s Republic of China.
Christian charity China Aid confirmed just before Easter that more than 2000 crosses had now been demolished by the government as part of their “Three Rectifications and One Demolition” campaign.
It also claimed that since the beginnning of 2016 to early March, 49 Churches had been destroyed in the rampage to abolish Christianity. Christian’s horror as China tears down THOUSANDS of crucifixes | World | News | Daily Express
One partial explanation from WaPo:
As my colleague William Wan reported a few years ago, long-ingrained fears of foreign infiltration and imperialist plots underlie China's official wariness of religion. Christianity also poses an obvious challenge to a nominally atheist, authoritarian leadership that has a hard time accommodating a plurality of belief systems.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-removing-crosses-from-hundreds-of-churches/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/w...es-in-campaign-against-christianity.html?_r=0
NCRegister | Sino-Vatican Talks Advance
Ironically, where Christianity is suppressed or merely “controlled,” it tends to thrive. I think that the People’s Republic of China is blundering here and nurturing rebellion and disobedience to the state.
I followed a link from Drudge just now, and although the headline’s source is not reputable (it’s the UK's Express), the facts aren’t in dispute, and many sources from the NY Times and WaPo to HuffPo have reported on the ongoing attempts to smother Christianity in the People’s Republic of China.
Christian charity China Aid confirmed just before Easter that more than 2000 crosses had now been demolished by the government as part of their “Three Rectifications and One Demolition” campaign.
It also claimed that since the beginnning of 2016 to early March, 49 Churches had been destroyed in the rampage to abolish Christianity. Christian’s horror as China tears down THOUSANDS of crucifixes | World | News | Daily Express
One partial explanation from WaPo:
As my colleague William Wan reported a few years ago, long-ingrained fears of foreign infiltration and imperialist plots underlie China's official wariness of religion. Christianity also poses an obvious challenge to a nominally atheist, authoritarian leadership that has a hard time accommodating a plurality of belief systems.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-removing-crosses-from-hundreds-of-churches/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/w...es-in-campaign-against-christianity.html?_r=0
NCRegister | Sino-Vatican Talks Advance
Ironically, where Christianity is suppressed or merely “controlled,” it tends to thrive. I think that the People’s Republic of China is blundering here and nurturing rebellion and disobedience to the state.
The government is taking down symbols not destroying churches.
Churches have been demolished for a variety of reasons. Google it.
I'm sure they have in some instances. The government however is not on a campaign of tearing down churches, which is a good thing. Even the USSR realized the importance to people of the church and churches remained through their history.
I'm sure they have in some instances. The government however is not on a campaign of tearing down churches, which is a good thing. Even the USSR realized the importance to people of the church and churches remained through their history.
Well, they are controlled by the government, .. but just because you wouldn't call them churches doesn't mean they aren't churches.
It might help if you stuck more to truthfulness.
Your claim that the pastor was jailed for merely being a Christian remains false and the link you supplied does nothing to support your false claim.
So don't give me this muck about my needing to educate myself. If you know too little to truthfully comment on the actual conditions of Christians in China, go and heed your own advice. Maybe, instead of relying on whatever you can dig up on the net in support of your agenda, go and work there as I have done.
Note also that I'm not even remotely suggesting that the situation in this issue is anything other than deplorable. But that's not taking anything away from the fact that your claim was false in its representation.
Gu Yuese is the highest-ranking Christian leader detained since China's infamous Cultural Revolution
Authorities in China have detained the pastor of the country’s largest official Protestant church, who publicly objected to a government drive to demolish crosses on church buildings, in what rights groups say is part of a larger crackdown on religious freedom in the communist nation.
A prominent pastor in China, Gu Yuese, is being investigated for corruption, according to local church authorities in Zhejiang province.
Mr Gu, the head of one of China's biggest state-sanctioned churches, is accused of embezzling funds.
A group of Hong Kong-based Christians have since alleged his probe is linked to his open opposition to a government crackdown on Christian activity.
China is officially atheist but says it guarantees religious freedom.
A Chinese preacher who opposed an “anti-church” demolition campaign that saw hundreds of places of worship partially or completely destroyed has been jailed for one year on charges supporters claim are trumped up.
Huang Yizi, 40, was sentenced before a packed courtroom on Tuesday afternoon for “gathering crowds to disturb social order,” Zhang Kai, his lawyer, said.
I'm sure they have in some instances. The government however is not on a campaign of tearing down churches, which is a good thing. Even the USSR realized the importance to people of the church and churches remained through their history.[
I'm not disputing the enacted farce (in fact said so a couple of times), I'm addressing the original claim (in its oversimplification).Here are some links. IMHO- credible links
China Has Detained the Pastor of Its Largest Official Church
China pastor Gu Yuese investigated for corruption - BBC News
China jails Christian pastor who fought church demolitions - Telegraph
https://www.google.ca/#q=christian+ministers+arrested+in+china&start=10
Verrry.Dead wrong on that.
Here are some links. IMHO- credible links
China Has Detained the Pastor of Its Largest Official Church
China pastor Gu Yuese investigated for corruption - BBC News
China jails Christian pastor who fought church demolitions - Telegraph
https://www.google.ca/#q=christian+ministers+arrested+in+china&start=10
Considering the Chinese can arrest you for whatever reasons they deem fit, find you guilty as directed by higher officials. The Govt is attacking Christians. It is how Xi Jinping is consolidating power. No opposition permitted. Now if you cannot see that, nothing I can do about it.Yet, he was put into prison because of 'gathering crowds to disrupt social order'. Mind you, that is still a repressive atmosphere, but it's not strictly because he was Christian. He was arrested because of protesting. Now, IMO, he had a legitimate complaint. But, it wasn't because he was Christian, but because he objected to the government's repressive rule.
Considering the Chinese can arrest you for whatever reasons they deem fit, find you guilty as directed by higher officials. The Govt is attacking Christians. It is how Xi Jinping is consolidating power. No opposition permitted. Now if you cannot see that, nothing I can do about it.
His moves on consolidating power are not only directed at Christians.
On the bold you are quite wrong. The communist regime never learned that allowing people to practice faith calms them,
Second, how can you AT ALL sure what the Chinese is not doing. They don't exactly have strong freedom of information laws there.
Third, anyone who thinks Bejing has a soft spot for theology, search Falun Gong.
Christianity remains a persecuted religion today, as Brendan Woods illustrates in his article “Christianity and Culture, Lessons from China” in the Spring 2010 issue of The Dartmouth Apologia. Even amid these examples, the Soviet Union’s effort to eradicate Christianity through persecution stand out as one of the most determined. Yet just as in Nero’s Roman Empire, Christianity in the Soviet Union neither disappeared, nor was it significantly weakened, by decades of persecution. The character, loyal community, and sincere belief of Russian Christians enabled them to maintain their faith and even to gain additional followers despite all the efforts of the Soviet government to eliminate them.
Ironically, where Christianity is suppressed or merely “controlled,” it tends to thrive. I think that the People’s Republic of China is blundering here and nurturing rebellion and disobedience to the state.
I followed a link from Drudge just now, and although the headline’s source is not reputable (it’s the UK's Express), the facts aren’t in dispute, and many sources from the NY Times and WaPo to HuffPo have reported on the ongoing attempts to smother Christianity in the People’s Republic of China.
Christian charity China Aid confirmed just before Easter that more than 2000 crosses had now been demolished by the government as part of their “Three Rectifications and One Demolition” campaign.
It also claimed that since the beginnning of 2016 to early March, 49 Churches had been destroyed in the rampage to abolish Christianity. Christian’s horror as China tears down THOUSANDS of crucifixes | World | News | Daily Express
One partial explanation from WaPo:
As my colleague William Wan reported a few years ago, long-ingrained fears of foreign infiltration and imperialist plots underlie China's official wariness of religion. Christianity also poses an obvious challenge to a nominally atheist, authoritarian leadership that has a hard time accommodating a plurality of belief systems.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-removing-crosses-from-hundreds-of-churches/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/w...es-in-campaign-against-christianity.html?_r=0
NCRegister | Sino-Vatican Talks Advance
Ironically, where Christianity is suppressed or merely “controlled,” it tends to thrive. I think that the People’s Republic of China is blundering here and nurturing rebellion and disobedience to the state.
There's a lot of American politicians who don't follow it too. Maybe the Chinese have noticed (how could you not) the way religion becomes a corrosive influence to rational behavior and, ultimately, challenges ALL existing, deliberative, man-made authority with an alternative, magical one. Whether it's Islam or Christianity, the search for personal meaning evolves into an oppressive, totalitarian strategy for how to deal with other people. God is an opiate that, eventually, numbs the public to their own stupidity and threatens civility.
Personally, I think they would do better to acknowledge that people need existential answers and learn to utilize that innate desire in a healthier way than the Abrahamic religions have offered. If history has taught us anything, it's that one religion replaces another which replaces another. Humankind just needs a superior replacement paradigm. Preferably, one that is not so violent and dogmatic.
So what. The faster that the world is free from religion the better...
Well, they are controlled by the government, .. but just because you wouldn't call them churches doesn't mean they aren't churches.
For thousands of years the Chinese were ruled by an Emperor who was considered akin to God if not A God. Much like the Egyptians. It's really no surprise to me that the Chinese government would want to stomp out all other religions. Particularly if they want a return to the olden days of Emperor's and Emperor's being Gods. Or at least as close as they can come to it.
you could say the same thing about england
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