The highly credible China Aid Association on July 10 posted a news release that reports:
According to reliable China Aid sources and collaborated reports by at least five different mission agencies, over 100 foreigners accused of being involved in illegal religious activities in China have been expelled or
deported this year between April and June. Sources inside the Chinese government informed CAA that the Chinese government launched a massive expulsion campaign of foreign Christians, encoded Typhoon No. 5, in February 2007.
This development is an ill omen for supporters of religious freedom inside China.
In recent years, China's communist leaders have encouraged Westerners to come to China to teach English, work as university professors, and work in business. The government's crackdowns on religion have focused on indigenous pastors, evangelists, and others who create faith-based organizations that are outside the government mechanisms of control, including the Three-Self movement for Protestants and the state-recognized Catholic church.
But according to CAA, even American teachers of English are at risk. Two instructors working in Tibet were kicked out.
CAA reports:
This is the largest expulsion of foreign missionaries since 1954 when the Chinese Communist government expelled all foreign religious workers after taking power in 1949.
My hypothesis is that China's government needs to be watched for what it does, not what is says -- especially when it comes to management of religion.
Are China's leaders worried about religious protests during the 2008 Olympics, or what?
Posted by Tim Morgan on July 10, 2007 9:07AM
Comments
Isn't it ironic that China continues to restrict its citizens' freedom of speech, assembly and religion in the name of preserving its socialist system while it happily throws that same system to the wind? The raison d'etre for the communist revolution was to get rid of the foreign exploiters and the landlords. Now they have foreign-owned and foreign-contracting sweatshops galore, the poorest of the poor are being abused by unscrupulous business owners and petty bureaucrats, and what do they do? Crack down on people in the churches.
Methinks it's time to put human-rights standards into the international trade agreements. Methinks evangelicals of conscience should make human rights a bigger issue in the 2008 Presidential elections and avoid the rhetoric of the economic purists who treat it as an externality.
Posted by: Patrick at July 10, 2007
I'm sure this has some of its roots in the forbiddance of non-atheist government officials.
Posted by: Chris at July 12, 2007
If I understand correctly, Christians for the past 12-15 years or so have not been barred from holding government offices, and there are government officials who attend the government-sanctioned churches. I would imagine, though, that particiaption in an illegal house church would get one stripped of a government post pretty quickly.
Posted by: Patrick at July 12, 2007
I am an english teacher in Harbin, China. Today i was supposed to teach:
"I love mommy and mommy loves me,
God bless mommy and god bless me"
I told my assistant that I don't believe in god and i got to skip off work ten minutes early.
Posted by: Louie at October 9, 2007
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