I could guarantee they would rather gain the freedom to worship as they choose without the threat of imprisonment, torture or death because they choose to follow Christ over the desire for lucre under the treacherous Communist regime of which they are in bondage.
There is nothing 'dramatic' about loving and caring for my fellow bretheren in China by choosing my investments wisely and with conscience by avoiding all things Communist Chinese. It is one issue to be forced to buy a product (oil, etc.) because there is no other choice (thank you NAFTA etc.) and one is dependent to a certain extent on that product. (Example: Most people are dependent on oil to put in their car to get themselves to work and support their family. And though they can avoid supporting Venezuela by not buying their gasoline at CITGO or Valero, it is nearly impossible to find a station that guarantees their petrol is from say, Texas or the Gulf of Mexico).
When given the freedom to put my investment money where my conscience leads I will run from supporting or partnering financially with tyranny. Starting with the ChiComs.
6/27/11
“Laogai Museum in D.C. focuses on human rights abuses in China”
“...“I saw many people passing away,” said Wu, now a U.S. citizen who lives in Virginia. “Nobody cried. The brain doesn’t work. China set up the system not only to force people to make the products, to make profit for the government, but also to change people’s minds. Brain change. There is no choice of religion, no choice of political view.”
He maintains that 3 million to 5 million people are still imprisoned for political reasons today — a figure rejected by Chinese officials who question Wu’s motives.
“I’m not aware of those numbers,” said Wang Baodong, spokesman of the Embassy of China in Washington. “This museum is politically motivated. It’s against China and the Chinese government. He hates the Chinese government.”
Wu was a geology student in Beijing who never had been involved in political activities when he was arrested in 1960 as a “counterrevolutionary rightist,” he said. He was forced to sign papers without reading them and taken to a labor camp, a chemical factory in Beijing.
“I had no choice; I signed it,” Wu recalled. “Until today, I do not know what was in that paper. They told me: ‘You’re sentenced to life.’ ”
Every day, twice a day, he was asked three questions that are now written on the black and red walls of the museum: “Who are you? What is this place? Why are you here?” The required answers: “I am a criminal. This is the Laogai. I am here to reform through labor.”
Wu said he worked 12 hours a day on farms and in coal mines and steel mills. Food was scarce, and he sometimes ate roots, snakes and frogs. He tried to commit suicide twice, refusing to eat while in solitary confinement. His weight plummeted to 80 pounds.
Throughout his imprisonment, he was allowed to write a one-page letter home every month. But he couldn’t say much to his parents and seven siblings.Police usually read the mail and censored any attempt to describe his life....”
You're assuming that Chinese Christians would be satisfied with poverty as long as they have they have the freedom to worship? Is that something you would be satisfied with? Poverty is okay as long as freedom of religion is guranteed. Why not work towards both?
And though they can avoid supporting Venezuela by not buying their gasoline at CITGO or Valero, it is nearly impossible to find a station that guarantees their petrol is from say, Texas or the Gulf of Mexico
Ah, yes, well you realize government and consumers work hand in hand. The US government, if they really wanted to and consumers were willing to back this up, refuse to buy oil from Saudi Arabia and Venzeula. It could even be done with a gradual draw down instead of a sudden cut off of this oil. It would result in, of course, a gradual rise of gasoline prices. But it doesn't have to slow the economy down if its done slowly as other forms of alternative energy comes on line due to higher and higher gas prices. Higher oil prices would even facilitate more drilling on US soil.
However, most Americans and government officials are willing to compromise by buying from the Saudi's and Venezuela because.......it keeps a lid on the price of oil. So much for standing up to tyranny. Oh, and by the way, to help pay for this oil, did you know the US sells so many 4th generation fighters to Saudi Arabia, that the Saudi's have more 4th generation fighters in the military than Britain does? I read that somewhere but didn't verify it. But I feel confident enough that it is either true or very close to it. And Saudi Arabia is a very brutal oligarch.
When given the freedom to put my investment money where my conscience leads I will run from supporting or partnering financially with tyranny. Starting with the ChiComs.
Invest your money wherever you want. But don't forget, you call people treasonous when they do business with China. Yet, people who point fingers about China tend to be silent about buying oil from nations that are dictatorships or oligarchs. And don't bring it up as a treasonous act. Many who don't see this double standard think its because America can't do without their oil. But the reality, the US CAN do without their oil. Its just that energy prices are much cheaper with the Saudi's and Venezeulians in the picture.