2 Fronts Seen as Pivotal for Religious Liberty (China and Muslim World)

ROME, JUNE 28, 2006 (Zenit.org).- China and the Muslim world are the two fronts that will shape the future of religious freedom, suggests a new report.

The "Report on Religious Freedom in the World," published by the international charity Aid to the Church in Need, was presented in Rome and Lisbon, Portugal, on Tuesday.

Magdi Allam, deputy director of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, explained that "reading this report, though not being Christian, I perceived with great clarity that religious freedom is the foundation of freedom."

Allam, an Egyptian, pointed out that, in general, the secular world perceives "exactly the opposite."

"Religious freedom," he said, "is the foundation of liberty because it signifies respect for the sacredness of life and for the dignity and freedom of the person. Life and freedom … are the foundation of any liberal system and of democracy."

Regarding Muslim fundamentalists who commit acts of terrorism, Allam specified that it is not a question of "resisters but of terrorists who have an ideology of hatred and violence, and manipulate religion."

Ongoing persecution

Father Bernardo Cervellera, missionary of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions and director of AsiaNews, announced that, since Sunday, a delegation of the Holy See has been in Beijing to meet with Chinese government officials.

Despite that promising news, Father Cervellera noted the constant violations of religious freedom and human rights that the Chinese government continues to carry out against Christians and followers of other religions.

The priest recalled that nuns and priests have been beaten and Church properties expropriated to make way for buildings for the forthcoming Olympics.

Three Catholic bishops have been kidnapped by the Chinese police and there has been no news of them in seven years. There are priests who languish in concentration camps and, according to data provided by evangelical churches in the past year, 1,958 evangelical pastors and faithful have been imprisoned and their homes and places of worship destroyed.

"The repression of Christians is the tip of the iceberg of a repressive policy against anyone who fights for respect of human rights," observed Father Cervellera.

The missionary noted that, according to data from the Public Security Ministry, in 2004 alone "there were 76,000 social riots in China, with clashes between the population and the forces of order."

Three Catholic bishops have been kidnapped by the Chinese police and there has been no news of them in seven years. There are priests who languish in concentration camps and, according to data provided by evangelical churches in the past year, 1,958 evangelical pastors and faithful have been imprisoned and their homes and places of worship destroyed. "The repression of Christians is the tip of the iceberg of a repressive policy against anyone who fights for respect of human rights," observed Father Cervellera.

Didn't work for the Romans. Won't work for the Chinese. China will be a Christian nation within 100 years. Hopefully, they won't make Constantine's mistake and establish a church when that happens.

you have got to be kidding, outnumber, really, who in the heck told you that? I would say praise God too, if that were true, where did you get your stats? quite the opposite I was thinking...........how can you be Christian, keep your faith with no where to worship, learn about it, and have fellowship? underground, no, the kids would tell, kids grow up to be teenagers and teenagers often spar with their parents and some would threaten to tell the govmt. ????wish it were true, but I don''t think so, sorry.

I don't care where you are in the world, science and governments have not been able to read your thoughts, let alone determine your beliefs, unless you express them. Put on an armband, (figure of speech)and I guarantee that someone will notice it and either comment on it or form some opinion about you. Privacy is your most fundamental right, and you exercise it between your ears! It is clearly no one's business what you think or believe. In a small, densely populated area like Japan, privacy is practically non-existent, yet people quietly enjoy their personal thoughts. Something so simple should be universally understood, but it is missing in so many lives. Pity.

Privacy is your most fundamental right, and you exercise it between your ears! It is clearly no one's business what you think or believe. In a small, densely populated area like Japan, privacy is practically non-existent, yet people quietly enjoy their personal thoughts.

I'm not sure if you were responding to my post. But if you were, here's my response.

Christianity doesn't work that way--limited to the quiet recesses of your mind. One of Christ's last directives to his disciples was to tell all people about Him. It's called the Great Commission and that's why we're kind of a noisy bunch. It's why every one of Christ's apostles died a martyr's death. They wouldn't shut up.

That's what's happening in China now to the enormous consternation of the authorities. In the past 15 years, the best estimates are that between 50 and 100 million Chinese have become Christians--mostly Roman and Evangelical and the rate of conversion is increasing. So it's not the 'safe' denominations that have watered down the Gospel to the point of meaninglessness. It's the dangerous ones that ask their members to change how they think and behave profoundly and to spread the word.

The Chinese churches are now confidently stating that they no longer need Western missionaries--they are self-sustaining. Instead, they have started sending missionaries to Europe where they correctly perceive the Gospel is more sorely needed than in their country.

This represents an enormous cultural change, even in a country the size of China. The Confucian and Christian worldviews could not be more different. I regard this mostly unremarked growth as every bit as important a change in China as the surging economy and the surfeit of boys due to China's mandatory abortion policy.

The Chinese authorities will be no more successful at squashing this historic change than were the Romans able to silence early Christians by murdering one after another. For some reason, historically, the Gospel spreads most rapidly under persecution.

Keisha, the early Christians started as a rag-tag group of about 500-2000 people and were the most heavily persecuted minority in the Roman Empire in the first and second centuries. By persecution, I mean crucifixion, burning at the stake type persecution. Every one of the apostles was murdered by the authorities in a gruesome manner. Many had no churches--meeting on the sly in members houses.

By the third century, the Roman Empire was Christian. In fact, Constantine had to outlaw church meetings in homes to force folks into his official church.

As far as I know, the poster's stats are pretty right on. I know that our church has contacts with Chinese evangelical churches and they are growing like wildfire. Sometimes they are allowed a church by the authorities. When they aren't, they figure out how to fellowship in private. The churches there are so successful that many are now sending missionaries to Europe.

A lot of Christian leaders have gone to jail or diappeared in China. Doesn't make any difference. Their Churches just keep growing.

Hi, thanks for the info, I get "Voice of the Martrys" newsletter, and it tells me heartbreaking stories of persecuted Christians. They have an "action pack" I would like to do, sending some of your clean, used clothes in the pack they send you etc. Have a great holiday, I am Catholic and many are praying for the conversion of China to Christianity, the technical incidentals are less important now, because all Christians are in this together, maybe this will bring us all together again, lol Keisha

Hi Keisha. Well, there's still that pope thing and the mary thing. :)

But isn't it interesting how the evangelicals and Catholics are coming to realize how much we have in common in the face of the humanist onslaught against the Church--much of which comes from nominal Christians? We are two of the principal American Christian groups that stick to scripture. And that means our similarities far exceed our differences. (I have to say "American" because many of our Anglican brothers overseas are with us also.) If the evangelical churches disappeared tomorrow, I would probably swallow hard and become a Catholic, notwithstanding the Pope and Mary things. I know I follow a lot of the publications out of the Vatican on various subjects and there is almost always a really thoughtful opinion expressed that is firmly grounded in scripture.

I joke about our doctrinal differences regarding the Pope. But in reality, the last two Popes have been outstanding leaders of the Christian Church. Truly inspiring men of God.

The Pope and Mary thing , to me, are the building blocks of my faith.....I look at the Mary at Zeitun web pages to see once again, only on a photo, the wonderful light I saw when I went up to one of the seven heavens Acquinas talks about in his Summa; as a Catholic, I believe the Popes truly descended from Peter, humanity as it is, there were bound to be not so good Popes, they didn't "see" the innerlight also of conversion, which comes to people at different times, if you die before , then after the counsel meets with you and lays your whole life before you, as they did me, you, then can freely say what you believe and if you are willing to change some of them after what you see, if not, oh well, it is all bound up by love, and after what you see, leaves you with the longing for this love, well, then you are in, I mean God had trouble once with some angels, now , He wants to clarify it more, Catholic or not, belief in the Pope or Mary or not, what is essential is the lack of false pride, after all, Mary at Zeitun is a pretty fabulous thing! but, I suppose if you are like King Henry 8th and wanted his own, well then , complications ensue......seems to me, then , he didn't believe what the Pope told him, and resented the power of the Mother of God. whatever, conscience is the gipper

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