A BBC report that Chinese police detained at least 20 worshippers from an unregistered Protestant church, amid a widespread stifling of dissent, elicited a comment from a fellow Facebook member who, beyond being educated, is well-traveled and well-read. I thought it worth repeating.
Says Matthew Reed Bailey:
I think they have good reason for doing so.
China has a rather large investment in halting superstition, which is rampant among the rural population, and even much of the urban population.
And, aside from just the immediate problems of superstition, there are many secondary problems that these groups create. Notably they politicize their faith.
Almost every one of these "unregistered churches" is a front organization for U.S. Evangelical operations in China who seek to undermine the Chinese Communist Party and the state. Every one of the U.S. organizations backing them has a rather confrontational and disruptive attitude that seems to disregard the stability to China, and of the success that they have had in modernization and economic progress. The U.S. groups encourage these churches to "Break the Law," using their Chinese congregations as political tools without the knowledge of the Chinese who are being so used.
The Chinese Christians tend to be innocent and naive to the real nature of the Evangelical Community in the USA, which is a HIGHLY political group. The Chinese Christians tend to believe that the U.S. Christians "Only have their best interests in mind." (as any "good" Christian is supposed to do).
China has a rather large investment in halting superstition, which is rampant among the rural population, and even much of the urban population.
And, aside from just the immediate problems of superstition, there are many secondary problems that these groups create. Notably they politicize their faith.
Almost every one of these "unregistered churches" is a front organization for U.S. Evangelical operations in China who seek to undermine the Chinese Communist Party and the state. Every one of the U.S. organizations backing them has a rather confrontational and disruptive attitude that seems to disregard the stability to China, and of the success that they have had in modernization and economic progress. The U.S. groups encourage these churches to "Break the Law," using their Chinese congregations as political tools without the knowledge of the Chinese who are being so used.
The Chinese Christians tend to be innocent and naive to the real nature of the Evangelical Community in the USA, which is a HIGHLY political group. The Chinese Christians tend to believe that the U.S. Christians "Only have their best interests in mind." (as any "good" Christian is supposed to do).
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