Group says dozens detained in raid on Chinese church

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Group says dozens detained in raid on Chinese church

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIJING — Dec 10, 2018, 7:17 AM ET

Dozens of Christians have been detained in a raid on a prominent Chinese church that operates outside the government's official Protestant organization, a U.S.-based advocacy group said Monday.

At least 80 churchgoers and seminary students from the Early Rain Covenant Church were taken away in the southwestern city of Chengdu beginning Sunday night, ChinaAid said. Those detained include the church's pastor, Wang Yi, and his wife, Jiang Rong.

China has cracked down heavily on independent church groups this year as part of an assault on all religions.

The government requires that Protestants worship only in churches recognized and regulated by the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Even within that framework, the officially atheist ruling Communist Party has been seeking to rein in religious expression, including removing crosses from official and unofficial churches.

-snip-

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/group-dozens-detained-raid-chinese-church-59722299

[guillaumeb]

1. "The official Protestant Organization".

And, we have this:

The government requires that Protestants worship only in churches recognized and regulated by the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Even within that framework, the officially atheist ruling Communist Party has been seeking to rein in religious expression, including removing crosses from official and unofficial churches.

Showing once again, if it were needed, that intolerance seems to be the default setting for humans.

[MineralMan]

3. Yes, that's what the Chinese government does. Our disapproval of that

will have zero effect on any of it. So, what's the point of commenting, Guy? None of us are calling for churches to be shut down. We tolerate religious worship just fine. We're less tolerant of religions that attempt to force their views on others. Personally, I'm actively intolerant of that, especially when it comes to women's reproductive choice. But, that's a different discussion, isn't it?

[guillaumeb]

4. Intolerance in action.

No matter the claimed beliefs, humans behave in mainly the same way.

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. Citation needed.

[marylandblue]

7. There's no citation needed, it's just unsupported belief

which it's just as valid as any fact.

[guillaumeb]

8. Observation of human behavior required.

And reading of human history.

[Act_of_Reparation]

9. How did you control for selection bias?

It's OK.

We'll wait.

[guillaumeb]

10. Read the article.

Comment on the article.

[Act_of_Reparation]

11. The article doesn't answer my question.

But then again, neither will you.

[guillaumeb]

13. Diversion in action.

[Act_of_Reparation]

14. Mad Libs in action.

[marylandblue]

6. Since I believe in and practice freedom of religion, along with

the vast majority of Americans, humans don't mainly act the same way.

[MineralMan]

2. I don't think anyone here supports the Chinese approach

to religious worship. We're all opposed to restrictions on religious practice here. No doubt someone will say that nobody is commenting on this thread and that means we approve of what the Chinese government did. That is not the case. None of us has anything to do with what the Chinese government does, nor would our protest matter to that government.

Failure to comment does not mean approval. This is SOP for China.

[Voltaire2]

12. Actually most of us here support restrictions

on religious practice. We just find ways of pretending that the practices aren’t religious.