Inside China’s fastest-growing non-governmental organisation

Christianity has a dubious record in history and an especially dubious record in China. The Taiping rebellion was brought on by Christian converts that killed millions of people, caused untold economic loses and stalled modernization attempts of the Qing dynasty. In this context, I cast a wary eye on spread of Christianity in modern China.Today’s rise in Christianity is in part due to the work of the communist party. During the turbulent years of the 50s and the 60s, traditional beliefs were purged as part of the campaign to get rid of the “4 olds”. This caused a huge spiritual vacuum in today’s Chinese. Christianity and Falungon commercialized on this opportunity to fill in the void.Just as the current financial crisis caused by decades of unrestrained credit expansion can not be cured by more easy money. The spread of Christianity caused by decades of religious prosecution can not be solved by more religious prosecution. Traditional beliefs including Taoism and Confucianism must be brought back to fill in the spiritual void.

I agree with rep3 that Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism are the traditional beliefs of China that must be brought back to enhance the culture and fill the spiritual void of China. Christanity has a history of destruction. It destroys all the cultures in comes on contact with: Greek, Native Americans African, etc. However, I think that a large part of the growth in Christanity is China is simply rebelliousness. The government of China has tried to suppress religion, and Christianity is one way of rebelling. The Christians want to conquer the world. Unfortunately, Chinese have not tied Christanity with Western imperialism. Indians have tied Christianity with Western colonialism and imperialism, which is why Indians are so resilient to persistent Christian attempts to re-colonize and dominate. To see the future of Christianity, just look at Europe. Traditionally Christian countries are becoming secular. To see the future of Buddhism (which originated in India), just look at Europe. Traditionally Christian countries are adopting Buddhism at an alarming rate. Without bribes and coercion--common methods of Christian missionaries--people are converting to Buddhism.

Religion per se is not a problem with Chinese authority so long as there is not an attempt to compete with Government powers. This is where the Catholic Church with its parallel power hierarchy runs up against the political state. Up till the late 80s Christian churches around the world, Catholic and Protestant, would preach that the Christian God is their only supreme authority and they owe to the Pope (or the archbishop) their true allegiance. They don't preach this any more but the doctrine is still implicit. Buddhism, Taosim, Islam had existed peacefully in China for centuries as they did not develop a power structure like that of the Christian churches.

"A strong faith discourages dishonesty and injury."I have never found this to be the case with adherents of *any* organized religion - Christianity least of all. In the case of Christianity, in fact, the religion seems to increase divisions and injury in society. I am sad for China.

Garfield CHN,

you must be quite naive living in a secluded inner China province, as skywalker-rick had pointed out all the related religion turn civil war conflicts in China. I hope you recall the very Shaolin temple next door to you, almost vanished into obscurity when several attempts by Chinese emperors to annihilate its very existence!!

You have not read enough the turbulent era in China, whereby some christian missionaries do kill and rape Chinese peasants
and women during their Inquisition!! Priests are human too, and
they're not hollier than thou!! and guess what, some of these
priests were canonized as saint. that's why vatican do own China a big apology.
this is perhaps one of the main reasons, as of todate, Vatican still not able to set up diplomatic relationship with China
(beside the recognition of Taiwan issue).

Vatican is running low in number of christian followers behind the aggressive growing and expansion of Islam. It makes sense
for Vatican to court into China market for their expansion (of their own coffer).

Remember, in social science context, Men made Religion, Men
created God(s) not the vice versa, as some posters had explained here that they're modern science who can now clear some of the mystique and intrique of the past.

I'm agnostic and non Chinese, and not fan of the CCP, I have
never had any doubtful moment that Christianity is a good religion, and they're more attune to modernity than Islam. It's a matter of interpretation of some holy verses that are not convincing enough as i do not follow blindly like many
trendier than thou in China.

I strongly recommend you to watch Mel Gibson's "Passion of
the Christ" and also not to forget to watch Vatican "sactioned"
the "DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown, who was "so intelligently" to crack the thousand year of Vatican hotly debated secrets.
Lastly, some academic book by Max Weber, the Capitalistic of
Roman Catholic and Protestant. Amen!!

"Christianity and the market economy, in his view, go hand in hand." This argument is so reminiscent of Max Weber's Protestant Ethics and the Development of Capitalism.The spread of Christianity in China is not a bad thing. On the contrary it is a sign of progress of the society and the freedom of religion ensured in the constitution of PRC should not be a mere empty slogan.However, religious belief, whatever it may be, should in no case contradict with the broader public interest, that is, the interest of non-believers and converts of other religions. The one-child policy shall not be changed simply because "no Christian ... should accept the one-child policy" because not a single religious group has the right to designate public policies that are tailored for the interest of a board public. 130 million Christians in China shall serve the interest of 1.3 billion Chinese, rather than hijack them.

I think this certainly spells trouble for the CCP in future. Religion and State will undoubtedly collide and conflicting each other, if left unregulated or institutionalized. I think the CCP known well and will take this growing christian phenomena as a historial mirror. When christianity takes its root in China, it'll for sure, encroaching to its traditional buddhist, or islam territory, ultimately fierce competition for more believers, Hopefully, it'll not turn into a communal religion upheaval as in India, a "wholesale mass slaughtering"
between hindu, muslim, sikh, christian fanatics in various states over the years.

For those coming from India subcontinent, will certainly share the view of christianity equates to imperialism, and colonialism. China did learn and experience the same during the turbulent era.

To certain degreee, the concept of salvation in christianity is rather unique and aggressive by nature, and showing intolerant by denouncing the various great eastern dharmic religions, whom by nature, are polytheist, as demons and idiols
worshipper or in simple, paganism. This has brought deep rift and wrath from other major religions.

I think it's best for China to stick to its original Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism to fill its void, as they are
more resilient, passive and theravada in thinking similar to
most Asian.
Christianity, whose presence, like some posters said, cause
destruction and havoc wherever it goes (especially in their
former colonies like India), and for sure a head on collusion with the Islam.

Lastly, there's a marked decline of church attendances thru out the North American and Europe, whose hungry deprived spirit are seeking devotion to the buddhism vis-a-vis Vajrayana sect(lamaism) for whatever their ulterior motives were??
So why the reverse trend on the wrong side of the road for
China??

This kind of commentary in Western magazines has the whiff of wishful thinking. Christians have been trying to exploit cultural insecurities in non-Christian peoples since the 15th century and have been consistently unsuccessful, and there is no reason to think this will be any different now. As a Beijing resident, and a Catholic I've found:A) Chinese Christians would be virtually unrecognizable to most Western ChristiansB) They are thought of somewhat similarly to how the Mormons are thought of in the West, acceptable, though somewhat cultish, which turns off mainstream ChineseC) As the article pointed out, its more of an intellectual trend than a mainstream shift, more Chinese people by far believe the crackpot theory that an elite group of bankers is trying to get the Chinese to pay for Western over consumption through currency manipulation. China is prone to pseudo-science fads, but they are fairly quickly dismissed...I'm sure thought that press like this helps keep such crap going

personally i don't like Christianity at all. but china does have a large population of Christians.there was a really old church just near my old home. to be honest, if you really know chinese, you will normally find them no so bound to religion. and a communist Christian...plz,you are either a communist or a religious man. you can have both on this issue

"In much of Christianity’s former heartland, religion is associated with tradition and ritual. In China, it is associated with modernity, business and science."

Just another typical chinese inferiority. No chinese will say "foreigner's moon is rounder" now, but I guess now the catch phrase is "foreigner's religion is more scientific". What a shame.

Christianity is actually not that bad we in India have lived in peace with chtisrians peacefully for something like 2000 years ever since st thomas came to India.The problems are caused by these over enthusiastic,fundamentalist bible belt evangelical types that go around telling poor people how their ancestors are burning in hell and how buddhism/hinduism is devil worshipping and yoga is evil and openly cause god knows how many problems.I hope the chinese can handle this bible belt menace better than we could.

And nut head please cut out the christians are bad etc.99% of christians in India have no anti pathy towards hindus and are loyal to the Indian state,our defence minister is a christian etc, what is happening in orissa is gutter politics by the BJP in the election year.

Garfield CHN
Apparently, you do have "distrust" of CCP by saying contradicting statement. "if there's barely any men in the church how could it threaten CCP ruling"
On other hand, you mentioned that "it's definitely CCP who'll
bring tribulation to China, and CCP is the first enemy of religions".

Likewise, I think whitewashed Christian mentality like yours and many other trendier than thou in China will certainly inviting trouble or create mayhem for yourself and may be the
State.

Remember, keep politics and religion separate if heaven forbade!!
Good luck and Shalom!!

Quick question for those who believe in God, that means those who are either Christian; Catholics; Islam or Judaic. My understanding of the Bible (both new and old testament), and Koran tells me that you guys are ALL worshiping the SAME God, only differ in the way you try to communicate with him/her/it. So why such big fuss among yourselves? Why can not get along among yourselves for the 2000 years? Not to mention the crimes and bloodshed committed by each of the above religion. Oh, I forgot to mention Buddhism too, although it does not believe in one God, but quit few of them. In short, reading history of these religions makes me wonder why people still want to believe in God...

CharlesMartel:God did not 'bless' Europe economically, colonialism and rational thinking (science) did, there's no doubt about that. If a country's prosperity can be contributed to God, then no wonder all the Middle-Eastern nations believe in Allah.

This was a fairly even-handed discussion of Christianity in China and not filled with the standard, leftarded, uppity bigotry against religion that seems to be a part of other Economist articles when faith/religion are discussed (readers need to go to the "comments" section afterwards to really feel the hatred and contempt for Christianity and Jesus there). While the growth of Christianity in North America is flat, and dropping in Europe, it is EXPLODING in Asia and South America and house churches are a big part of that growth as discussed. In fact, 20-30,000 people come to faith in Christ every DAY in China, but what the article did not mention was that persecution does happen and the government did flex its power against the church before the Beijing Games (and continues to now).Part of the success of this house church growth is that it is relational and gets back to true Biblical Christianity...pre-Constantine days who arguably put the brakes on the growth of Christianity by institutionalizing the faith and setting up a clergy-laity division and formal buildings to meet in. While the persecution stopped against Christians by his dramatic conversion, so to did the passion it seems... Comments of "recolonizing" in the growth of the Christian faith only show that much of the "Enlightened" and atheistic left still live in a 17th or 18th century paradigm of Christianity and its inter-connectedness to the political sphere, as the Economist notes: "All this amounts to something that Europeans, at least, may find surprising. In much of Christianity’s former heartland, religion is associated with tradition and ritual. In China, it is associated with modernity, business and science." It is rather surprising to see such close-mindedness and unwillingness of some readers to acknowledge the fact that that we live in a different world now than even 10 years ago, and live on a planet now where the majority of Christians worldwide are not Caucasian, and are financially poor in most cases (China being a key exception, although even there "well-off" there may not be considered rich in Western Europe or America). While the religion of secularism has blinded most of Europe to the concept that being rational leads to acknowledgment of God, the Economist statement above is certainly true. Chinese people are becoming more educated...and education naturally leads people to the belief in a Creator (unless the propaganda and dogma of the MSM and an atheistic, or communistic worldview gets their allegiance first as it has in much of the West through higher learning and academia and its contempt for religion). Add to this the fact that Asians are predisposed to spirituality already and do not have the same negative preconceptions of faith as secular Europeans, the end result is the embracing of a Biblical world view which is coherent and, as mentioned, makes them more honest, productive workers. The people who invented the compass, paper money, gunpowder and credit banking (the latter arguably not viewed positively, perhaps, in light of the current credit crisis) are certainly smart enough to know that faith in Christ and reason go hand in hand. It's a shame to see Europe turn its back with such contempt on its Christian roots and the God that blessed it so economically.Perhaps one day we can hope to read some comments from Economist readers that are not so pointedly bigoted against religion, and Christianity in particular...However, once a person's heard is hardened and mind-closed, it will usually take a personal crisis to open their mind back up. Even they, one day, will meet their Maker and it is interesting to read the final comments of avowed secularists and atheists on their death beds as they nearly all appeal to GOD.Ravi Zacharias is great Christian philosopher for the open-minded.

@JosekuttyYou don't have to show your Hindu ways of life to be loyal citizen of India. At the same time, it is not necessary to plead all imaginary problems in front of your Vatican masters. There are ways to solve our internal problems. It is because of proliferation of people like you that our problems become magnified. It is better that you don't speak about Dalits, because people like can never have a balanced view. As far as VHP, BD are concerned, I condemn their violent actions. They are not representatives of Hinduism. They will never be, because unlike your religions, we don't need a body/lobby to represent ourselves. Also, the point to be noted is that they are reacting to something dirty that missionaries are doing. Rubbing salt to wounds are the govt and the media who are dishing out biased reports.Intolerance was completely alien to India, it was brought to India by Abrahamic religions. Before their advent, Hindus, Jains and Buddhists lived peacefully, except for natural wars between kings.As for your propaganda that Hindu temples were built on Jain temples, well, what else can be expected from a person of your mentality?

vishnugupta,Everyone knows that the Christians wish to re-colonize Asia. They say so themselves. As I spend much of my life (16 out of 17 years) as a Christian, I know what they think like. Their is a scripture in the bible--the Book of Revelations--that talks about Jesus coming down to earth. This seems good, but then the 'Book' talks about all non-Christians dying. This is ok. But then, before Jesus comes, their will be a massive war: christians vs non-christians. That is why Evangelical Christians were so happy about invading Iraq--to convert, so that the Arabs fight with the Christians. It is also why they want to invade Iran. Of course, they don't talk about invading Asia. but in a few years they might. Also, they are electing much more crazy leaders in the US-Bush, Palin, etc. You can read for yourself:http://stopchristianmissionaries.blogspot.com/

P Summer
thanks your comment. don't get me wrong, i never say i don't like direction election, ultimately, i think HK ppl deserve such universal suffrage.
my point is, whether it'll be too early to set 2017 as target
date, and i like to hear some posters here as to their comments
what are the merits to have a direction election....
and what will HK gain in terms of socio-economic development.

as i see that mainland China has sort of "bailed out" HK on
several ocassions when HK is facing economic difficulty, and HK is more and more rely or dependent on China economic-wise
due to its continued growth. HK without China will probably
stagnant, and whether HK will create a metro HK(Pearl River
Delta) to guide China in democratization is seriously in doubt.

I see that you are the do-gooder, worshipper of the British
empire, a typical neo-colonialist, who propagate to believe that British will give full democracy to HK residents if China
allow to do so 150 years ago?? was Chris Patten and all the
governors are elected by HK residents?? bear in mind, only
the early 1990's you only see 1st local born HK Chinese were
appointed as Chief Police, Chief Justice, Chief adminstrator
etc etc.
I see it's rather childish for you to say that HK are not ready for democracy under the British and China disallow
so. Firstly was the British there 150 years ago to teach or
give HK democracy....NOT, they're there to exploit economically until the very last Handover ceremony. I think
Chris Patten can tell you more.
recommend you to read more about Nanjing Treaty.

China one party monotheist political problems can’t be resolved by another monotheist political system,It requires polytheist democracy. In last 30 years china communist-capitalist system largely improved standard of living, now it requires changes toward muti-party, with tons of ideas called democracy!

It you feel low on morals please take it from elders, Chinese source of knowledge. Like red book some other book may sound good source of moral strength. But it harmful tool in hands of Mao communist party or Emperor pope or Czar evangelist

You can learn from history, one "community organizer” moral idea ended Roman empire to push Europe in dark ages.

LFJ,Direct election is based on the Basic Law which was signed by the Chinese and the British Government. Actually no "imperialist" argument is needed. Of course, change of the Basic Law is indeed possible, then you have to argue your case with the People's Congress of China.If however you want to know why the Basic Law is worded like this, this is your own private problem, and you have to do your own study. May be some other poster wants to enlighten you, but certainly not my cup-of-tea.