People who say that Religion and Politics should not be discussed almost always are simply trying to avoid the Truth of Almighty God.
Politics is nothing more than a manifestation of society's faith (or lack thereof).
Put differently, “religions must be about theology, not politics.”
I’m sure their #1 concern right now is Islam - they just have no trouble saying out loud what we no longer dare to.
I couldn't agree more. Which is why all foreign funding for mosques in the U.S. should be banned, as Austria did last year.
The left hates religion because the religious recognize an authority higher than the state. There it is.
Is The Almighty a “foreign influence”? After all, His kingdom is not of this world.
Christ is Risen!
Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ was NOT Chinese!
And His home is with God the Father! We Orthodox Christians will celebrate Christ’s Ascension to His Father tomorrow in a Great Feast!!!!
So Christ is a “foreign” influence whether the Chinese Communists like it or not!
Christianity is growing in China. Christ is winning, and the commies are losing.
Indeed He is Risen!!!!
So... no Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, or Zoroastrianism - all of which are ‘foreign’ to China...?
Guess that leaves Taoism and Confucianism - if you can call the latter a ‘religion’.
People who say that Religion and Politics should not be discussed almost always are simply trying to avoid the Truth of Almighty God.
Politics is nothing more than a manifestation of society's faith (or lack thereof).
The Catholics suffer the most from this Communist attitude, since communion with the Succesor of Peter, i.e. the Pope, is part of the religion, but is deemed “foreign interference” by the Communists. Other religions will of course suffer under state/party control but don’t of necessity have the foreign connection.
A lot of this goes back to the pseudo-religious Taiping Rebellion, which may possibly have been the second bloodiest conflict after World War II.
Few Americans are familiar with this 14 year war, as it overlapped the US Civil War, and because Americans and Europeans were involved in its beginning and end.
To make a long story short, American missionaries gave a religious tract or pamphlet to the wrong guy. Both crazy and incredibly charismatic, after skimming it he decided that he was “Jesus’ younger brother”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion
American historians estimate 20 million people were killed. British historians, 30-50 million.
In any event, since then, leaders of China have been scared half to death by Christianity, even though it is obviously not a threat, and they lump other religions together as also having the potential to become murderous beyond belief.
They have similar feelings about student uprisings, which almost destroyed their country during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. So when the leaders looked out their windows at the peaceful protesters in Tienanmen Square, a lot of them were so terrified they curled up in a fetal position on the floor and started to weep.