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The Jesuits once were very close to converting the Emperor of China and his entire household to Catholicism in the 17th century. The Jesuits were skilled astronomers, greatly impressed the Chinese, and had wide access to the Emperor. The Chinese however insisted on the veneration of ancestors. The Vatican would not approve and the rest is history.

The Jesuits were OK with veneration of ancestors, but other Catholic missionaries objected and got the pope to forbid it. Pius XII finally loosened the rules.

This piece basically equates Christianity with Protestantism. The Jesuits first arrived in the 1500s. A friend of my father's was a Catholic missionary in China in the 1930s.

There is some good news from Iran. Our church has quite a few Iranian immigrants. Our assistant minister is from Iran and escaped Iran for his christian missionary work. The old Shaw of Iran was quite welcoming of the Christians who built a lot of churches. When he had to flee the country there were quite a few Christians that became enemy's of the state and were either prosecuted or imprisoned for many years. Christianity was nearly wiped out in Iran,
We have had two missionares fresh from Iran giving us up-to-date talks on what is happening in Iran that you hear about on CNN or MSNBC. There is a huge come-back to christianity. Christianity is stll illegal and can be imprisoned for up to seven years and churches are still being burnt. They have to meet security in private homes. The people are getting tired of a Muslim government because their economy is so bad. Iran was doing great under the Shaw of Iran.