Like a post from the Family Research Council‘s blog. For those of you unfamiliar with the organization, they’re pretty much the quintessence of “pro-family” politics in America today. Anti-homosexuality, anti-abortion, pro-prayer-in-schools, etc. So what do these fine folks have to say about China?
Well, quite a bit actually. And while they come across with pretty much the exact message one would expect them to be carrying (referring to the “brave original signatories” of the letter to the government, the “repression” (my quotes) of “unofficial” churches (their quotes), etc.) they also hit the nail pretty squarely on the head with describing the actual problem that is causing the conflict between the Chinese government and these unofficial churches.
The Chinese Communist Party is nervous about anything to which people might swear an allegiance above their allegiance to the party. Whether they will indeed have to face a conflict between Christians as their nation’s “finest citizens” and their allegiance to a higher power is more debatable.
The more political concerns, however, are more obvious. The article quotes a US Representative who describes members of the “unofficial” churches, which are not protected by the Chinese constitution’s right to freedom of religion, as being vulnerable to “human rights abuses.” This is a take on the situation that the Chinese government would certainly not like to be the one that the world at large takes, but also is not far off from the general consensus of all the articles I have been looking at.
