Increased persecution in China

[bjs]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/20 ... level-mao/
“Watchdog groups say the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in China is at its most intense since the Cultural Revolution, as churches are shuttered, Bibles confiscated and believers arrested at rates not seen in decades.�

“For Christians alone, last year we documented persecution against 1,265 churches, with the number of people persecuted over 223,000. And that is just the tip of the iceberg,� Mr. Fu said. “In 2016, there were 762 cases of persecution, according to our documentation, with the number of people persecuted 48,000. It really is almost five times [as much].�

I know several Christians in China, and other American Christians who travel to China, and I will attest that is this is accurate. Persecution of all religious groups, with Christians faces the brunt of the attack, has increased dramatically. If a person is found to be a Christian that person’s family entire, including children, are sent to “reeducation� labor camps.

For debate:
Is this acceptable?

Could this spread to western nations?

Do western nations have a responsibility to respond, and if so in what way?

[Furrowed Brow]

There is broad brush religious persecution in China. Tibetan Buddhists and Muslims Uighurs also face persecution. It seems persecution has got worse under Xi.

Of course this is not acceptable.

It is doubtful this would spread to the West. Though parts of Eastern Europe and maybe America are moving towards greater Muslim intolerance but not near the level of clampdown practised by China. (A Guardian article reports of concentration camps to re-educate Muslim Uighurs. ) If some of the extreme right-wing parties surfacing in Europe grow in influence and confidence we could see similar clampdowns on Islam and maybe stripes of Christianity not approved. Russia has a history of oppressing evangelical churches not the Orthodox church.

So if a problem arises in the West I see it coming from the right and those pushing harder forms of nationalism.

Western countries have the responsibility to keep making the case for plurality.

I suspect one of the reasons why China have a history of clamping down on religion is that their elite political powers see religion as a means for external forces (Western intelligence services) to divide the population and foster revolution. Efforts to change China that amount to no more than persuasion would confirm to the Chinese communist party that religion is indeed a vehicle to undermine their regime. Or maybe the ruling elites just see religion as too closely associated or potentially associated with independence movements. Whatever the nuances of their reasoning authoritarian power is always keen to clamp down on perceived threats.

In doing some limited research for this post I noticed several articles written in the last 18 months on the subject. Clearly this is a sign things are bad in China. However experience also tells me that when a country becomes the target of regular negative articles it is also a sign the West is getting ready for a coup or war and these articles serve as propaganda to soften public opinion. This is not to say China are not guilty of oppression but that there is plenty of oppression going on around the world our "free press" seem to turn a blind eye to or have little concern for.

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 1 by bjs]

Yes I was watching some reports on Chinas increasingly anti-religous stance.

Could this spread to western nations?

Yes. Indeed Jehovah's Witnesses have long been announcing a hardcore international crackdown on religion is part of bible prophecy.

JW

[bluethread]

Google is aiding China in these efforts, by providing it with "algorithms" that permit the government to sort e-mail content. These are programs that Google uses in these United States, with the promise that they will only be used for our own good.