BEIJING — Chinese leaders issued an order last year quietly directing universities to root out foreigners suspected of plotting against the Communist Party by converting students to Christianity.
The 16-page notice — obtained this month by a U.S.-based Christian group — uses language from the cold war era to depict a conspiracy by “overseas hostile forces” to infiltrate Chinese campuses under the guise of academic exchanges while their real intent is to use religion in “westernizing and dividing China.”
The document suggests that despite small signs of religious tolerance in recent decades, China’s ruling officials retain strong suspicion of religion as a tool of the West and a threat to the party’s authoritarian rule. And with the country’s top leadership in transition and looking to consolidate power, Chinese religious leaders worry that the stance is unlikely to change in the near future. [source]
No surprise here and over the last year we have seen the same kind of attitude displayed with China and Vatican relations with China taking more control of even the patriotic churches to keep them firmly under government control.
So glad to be living in a country with religious freedom. Well at least more religious freedom than China — for now.
is a new book from Ignatius Press by William Kilpatrick. This is not a light read, but I found it to be an very informative read.
