Chinese Communist Party to commence nationwide crackdown on Christianity including Jehovah's Witnesses

[The Librarian]

China's governing Communist Party is set to launch a nationwide crackdown on the Christian Church.

By Matthew Carney - ABC

The Communist Party has just enacted much tougher laws that criminalise Christians if they do not pledge loyalty to the state.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned that all religions now have to become "Chinese" and the new laws will attempt to bring churchgoers and their leaders under party control.

The new laws will put the state firmly in charge, giving the Communist Party the ability to hire and fire church leaders and change religious doctrine to make it more Chinese...

That means churchgoers will have to pledge loyalty to the Communist Party first.

There is good reason to be afraid. Chinese Authorities have already started the crackdown in the Christian heartland in the southern province of Zhejiang.

It's been extensive and brutal. In the past two years they have torn down nearly 2000 crosses and in some cases demolished churches.

Church leaders and their followers have been arrested and imprisoned.

There's also good reason to why the Communist Party is threatened by the Church.

Some say there are 100 million Christians in China — that's more than Communist Party members.

The Chinese Government admits there are about 25 million Christians registered at state-run churches where pastors are appointed by the state and theology approved by the governments Religious Affairs Bureau.

ABC http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-08/chinese-communist-partys-crackdown-on-religion/7912140

See also:

New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/world/asia/china-religion-regulations.html

[Guest]

Let's see how this folds out for our brothers and sisters there...

[John Lindsay Barltrop]

I guess we could say something like this and occurrences in Russia could be the thin edge of the wedge..........nothing should really surprise us, after all we are in the final part of the last days.

[JaniceM]

So sad these developments.  Lot of prayers to be answered.

[Guest Kurt]

China’s Religion Law and the Perils of Counting Consciousness

 

Thomas David DuBois

The work of an historian of Chinese religion overlaps with, and sometimes confronts, the work of rights advocates. These encounters can be uncomfortable for both parties. Scholars, diplomats and jurists often have very different ideas of what rights are worth protecting, and what counts as religion. As recent revisions to China’s religions law show, ideas about religion in China are changing quickly.

Read

Thomas David DuBois is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow in Chinese Studies at the College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University. He is the author of Sacred Village: Social Change and Religious Life in Rural North China, and Religion and the Making of Modern East Asia. His most recent book, Empire and the Meaning of Religion in Northeast Asia, will be published by Cambridge University Press early in 2017.

[Alice Puente]

I googled it, Australia Broadcasting wrote an article on this subject about 3 or 4 days ago. 

[JaniceM]

Thanks Alice.

[John Cecotti]

On 10/12/2016 at 15:04, Alice Puente said:

I googled it, Australia Broadcasting wrote an article on this subject about 3 or 4 days ago. 

can you provide the link please....

[The Librarian]

@John Cecotti look inside my original post on top for the link