Christians in China--an ominous trend

We hear liberals praising China repeatedly. Thomas Friedman, famous New York Times prize-winning columnist, gushed over China in several columns. But this country's dictatorial leaders are cracking down on Christians who consider God, not the Communist Party, the head of the church.

Take the example of Shouwang Church, one of Beijing's largest unsanctioned "house" churches. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that since early April, police have prevented church members from gathering for normal Sunday worship services. Hundreds have been detained for short periods, and the entire church leadership has been under house arrest since April. This church, whose 1,000-strong congregation is mostly upscale professionals, actually paid $4 million for meeting space in a Beijing office building. But under pressure from the authorities, the sellers refused to hand over the keys, leaving the church with no place to meet.

China tolerates Christian church services, but only within the narrow boundaries of theology and church life dictated by the State Administration for Religious Affairs. Estimates of the number of Christians in China vary widely, ranging from a government figure of about 20 million for its own churches to that of outside observers who say the total is as high as 130 million.

Most Chinese Christians belong to unofficial house churches like Shouwang, which reject Communist Party-controlled theology and consider God—not the Communist Party—the head of the church. The number of house-church Christians, while hard to estimate, is likely more than 60 million.

The recent crackdown on house-church Christians is the outgrowth of a Communist Party initiative launched last December, called "Operation Deterrence," to force all house-church Christians to be incorporated with the government. In light of the savage treatment of practitioners of Falun Gong, a meditation group brutally repressed since 1999, the implications of "Operation Deterrence" are alarming.

Why hasn't Shouwang Church agreed to join the government organization? It claims this government administration was an outdated product of the Cold War, and that the faith that the government allows is what church history calls liberal theology, while the faith of the house churches is evangelical theology.

Evangelical churches around the world, of course, have always stressed the need for Christians to share their faith. But the Chinese government forbids its churches to evangelize. Last autumn, the Lausanne Conference on World Evangelism was held , but authorities blocked some 200 invited Chinese house-church representatives from leaving China.

This crackdown on Christians is part of a rising tide of repression against dissent that's often accompanied by interrogations and torture. Recently, the wife of blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng said that she and her husband were beaten and tortured for several hours by a gang of plainclothes thugs led by the village Communist Party secretary. Worryingly, some of the Shouwang church detainees found government church representatives taking part in the police interrogations, "educating" and "rebuking" the Shouwang Christians. Incredibly, a key government official denies that house churches even exist.

We need to join groups like Open Doors and Voice of the Martyrs to keep pressure on China and help to shed light on the ongoing repression of our fellow Christians in China.

Freedom, Islamic style

I think it’s important at times to be reminded of all the liberties we have in this great country. We hear so many negative things about the U.S., drummed into our heads by the media, politicians, textbooks, intellectual elites, etc. One thing I love is our religious freedom. Compare that to this story out of Egypt as reported by Voice of the Martyrs, an organization set up to let the world know of the plight of persecuted Christians around the world.

In Egypt there is a truck driver who is a Christian. He drives into the wilderness at night to feed 42 Christian converts who sleep on cardboard mats in a small house. Many of these people are former Muslims who were part of a radical Islamic organization called the Muslim Brotherhood. They are now hunted by the police for converting to Christianity. I find that ironic--the police also search for Brotherhood members because these are deemed dangerous to the state since they advocate Islamo-fascism. But now they're hunted because the police see the converts as a new danger to the state; they owe allegiance first to God, not Egypt.

The truck driver tells how impressed he is with these outcasts. They can’t find jobs, but they are not sorry for their conversions. They devour the Bible, they ask many questions about what they read, they sing songs to Jesus.

This truck driver (no name to protect him), was caught by the police, who have a special division that focuses on Christians who talk to others about their faith. He was stripped, hung upside down, and beaten. But he says he carries his cross for Jesus with pleasure. He mentions verses that sustain him through these difficult times—Hebrews 13:13 and Revelation 12:11 in particular.

I compare that to the robust freedoms we have here. Oh sure, we get some flack from non-believers, but put that into a global perspective. People are killed around the world for their religious convictions. Moslem countries are notorious for their persecution of those differing from Islam. So much for political correctness that praises all cultures. I’ll take our freedoms over their closed-mindedness any day.