Threa of Christianity in China.

[Aegis DDG]

Many of China's churches are overflowing, as the number of Christians in the country multiplies. In the past, repression drove people to convert - is the cause now rampant capitalism?

It is impossible to say how many Christians there are in China today, but no-one denies the numbers are exploding.

The government says 25 million, 18 million Protestants and six million Catholics. Independent estimates all agree this is a vast underestimate. A conservative figure is 60 million. There are already more Chinese at church on a Sunday than in the whole of Europe.

The new converts can be found from peasants in the remote rural villages to the sophisticated young middle class in the booming cities.

Driven underground
There is a complexity in the structures of Chinese Christianity which is little understood in the West. To start with, Catholicism and Protestantism are designated by the state as two separate religions.


The Haidian Christian Church in Beijing was completely re-built to cope with rising numbers
Throughout the 20th Century, Christianity was associated with Western imperialism. After the Communist victory in 1949, the missionaries were expelled, but Christianity was permitted in state-sanctioned churches, so long as they gave their primary allegiance to the Communist Party.

Mao, on the other hand, described religion as "poison", and the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 70s attempted to eradicate it. Driven underground, Christianity not only survived, but with its own Chinese martyrs, it grew in strength.

Since the 1980s, when religious belief was again permitted, the official Churches have gradually created more space for themselves.

They report to the State Administration for Religious Affairs. They are forbidden to take part in any religious activity outside their places of worship and sign up to the slogan, "Love the country - love your religion."

In return the Party promotes atheism in schools but undertakes "to protect and respect religion until such time as religion itself will disappear".

House Churches
Protestants and Catholics are both divided into official and unofficial Churches.

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The old have seen the old certainties of Marxism-Leninism transmute into the most visceral capitalist society on earth”

The officially sanctioned Catholic Patriotic Association appoints its own bishops and is not allowed to have any dealings with the Vatican, though Catholics are allowed to recognise the spiritual authority of the Pope.

There is a larger Catholic underground church, supported by the Vatican. Inch by inch, the Vatican and the government have been moving towards accommodation. Most bishops are now recognised by both, with neither side admitting the greater sovereignty of the other.

Yet in the past few months, the Chinese government has again turned tough, ordaining its bishops in the teeth of opposition from the Vatican which has in turn excommunicated one of them.

Even so, it would be wrong simply to dismiss the official church as a sham.

In the mountains West of Beijing, I visited the village of Hou Sangyu where a Catholic Church has stood since the 14th Century.

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Tim Gardam is the Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford.
He is pictured here with the Catholic Sisters of Sangyu.
God in China, Christianity and Catholicism will be on BBC Radio 4 at 8pm on Monday 12 September.
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Catch up on iPlayer
The tough faith of these old people had withstood the Japanese invasion and the Cultural Revolution. The village clinic was run by nuns, one from Inner Mongolia, a Catholic stronghold.

It is from such villages that the Catholic Church recruits its young ordinands, to undertake training for the priesthood.

The official Protestant Church is growing faster than Catholicism.

On Easter morning, in downtown Beijing, I watched five services, each packed with over 1,500 worshippers. Sunday school was spilling on to the street.

However, these numbers are dwarfed by the unofficial "house churches", spreading across the country, at odds with the official Church which fears the house churches' fervour may provoke a backlash.

What the authorities consider non-negotiable is the house churches' refusal to acknowledge any official authority over their organisation.

The State fears the influence of zealous American evangelism and some of the House Church theology has those characteristics, but, in many other respects, it seems to be an indigenous Chinese movement - charismatic, energetic and young.

An educated young Christian described her church to me: "We have 50 young professionals in this church. Everyone is so busy working, you don't have time socialising, and even if you are socialising, you are putting on a fake face.

"But in church people feel warm, they feel welcome… they feel people really love them so they really want to join the community, a lot of people come for this."

Alpha marriage course
A Chinese academic close to the government told me that the government would prefer to ignore the house churches, as unlike the Falun Gong they are not seen as a threat. But where a church oversteps the line, as happened in Beijing this year, taking its worship on to the streets, then the authorities will crack down.

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The worship of Mammon… has become many people's life purpose”

Professor He Guanghu
Renmin University, Beijing
In some areas the state has sought to enlist Christianity into its "big idea" of a "harmonious society" - the slogan that dominates Chinese public life. There has been official interest in the Western evangelical Alpha Marriage Course, because of alarm at the escalating divorce rate among young Chinese.

What must unsettle the authorities most is the reason why so many are turning to the churches.

I heard people talking again and again of a "spiritual crisis" in China - a phrase that has even been used by the Premier Wen Jiao Bao. The old have seen the old certainties of Marxism-Leninism transmute into the most visceral capitalist society on earth.

For the young, in the stampede to get rich, trust in institutions, between individuals, between the generations, is breaking down.

As one of China's most eminent philosophers of religion - Professor He Guanghu, at Renmin University in Beijing put it to me: "The worship of Mammon… has become many people's life purpose.

"I think it is very natural that many other people will not be satisfied... will seek some meaning for their lives so that when Christianity falls into their lives, they will seize it very tightly."

 

[Wright]

Not good, the worlds Athiest powers need to keep themselves free from Abrahamic religions. They will make one Idolize the Jews or Arabs and become like them.

 

[Aegis DDG]

Not good, the worlds Athiest powers need to keep themselves free from Abrahamic religions. They will make one Idolize the Jews or Arabs and become like them.

Japan is the only E.Asian nation to preserve traditional Han Culture i.e Japan's legal system is largely based on Confucian principle (although it's system is based along Prussian lines), Zen Buddhism is still strong, Japanese use simplified Hanzi (Kanji) Characters. Japanese are also good at preserving it's native culture like shintoism.

 

[ashokdeiva]

"I think it is very natural that many other people will not be satisfied... will seek some meaning for their lives so that when Christianity falls into their lives, they will seize it very tightly."

Another Christian, trying to convice the fellow Chinese that Christianity is on the raise and they have to chose it to cope with the new CHINESE culture.
Let me tell you one thing every religion has its bad side and of all the religion that has florised in the face of Earth there is no other religion that will bet Chistianity in the number of sufferings that it has caused to human kind, since the time of Crusades, to the time mordern times of world war 2 (Hitler himself being a Christian).
Lets just retain the religion that we are born into and keep it a private matter and not follow the customs of what the religious books says, because these books are writen for a time that is 1000s of years before.
In my crude opinion MAO was right, Religion is a poison that has wandered the earth too long, its better to embrase athism rather falling in this trap of number fight on which is the fastest growing religion

 

[jamal18]

For what it's worth , some famous American clairvoyant said China will become one of the largest Christian countries in the world.

I keep forgetting his name. Casey? Anyhow he is famous.

 

[KS]

Relevant

Going undercover, the evangelists taking Jesus to Tibet | World news | guardian.co.uk

 

[PITA]

Christianity has been in China for quite some time. My impression is that most Han Chinese don't take religion all that seriously. They may go to church a couple of times and may even call themselves Christian but they're hardly partaking in any serious understanding or practice.

It's like Christmas in China. Sure people put up Christmas trees and pictures of St. Nick but it's really only appreciated on a superficial level.

 

[Pakistanisage]

I seriously doubt Chinese will take on Christian Faith as fervantly as South Koreans.....

 

[PITA]

Another Christian, trying to convice the fellow Chinese that Christianity is on the raise and they have to chose it to cope with the new CHINESE culture.
Let me tell you one thing every religion has its bad side and of all the religion that has florised in the face of Earth there is no other religion that will bet Chistianity in the number of sufferings that it has caused to human kind, since the time of Crusades, to the time mordern times of world war 2 (Hitler himself being a Christian).
Lets just retain the religion that we are born into and keep it a private matter and not follow the customs of what the religious books says, because these books are writen for a time that is 1000s of years before.
In my crude opinion MAO was right, Religion is a poison that has wandered the earth too long, its better to embrase athism rather falling in this trap of number fight on which is the fastest growing religion

You make some very valid points about Christianity. It's rarely compared in the same light as other religions. But it's rarely the little guy that calls the shots. Those bloody conflicts happened because those in power twist and manipulate an agenda and it's the butcher, the baker and candlestick maker that die.

@Pakistanisage

You're absolutely right. They worship Tom and Jerry more than Christ.

 

[Okemos]

My paternal family since Qing Dynasty has been Christian family in Zhejiang province, where Western missionaries were very active. My aunts all go to house churches. However, my dad is not Christian. Actually we are more fervent follower of traditional cultures. We practice ancestral worships in every holiday, lol. The reason being that my dad is the only son and he should not be Christian because our ancestors would have no place to call home.

Even my Christian aunts have mixed practice of Christianity and traditions. Very very different from Western churches. In fact, I would even say only those people that live in huge cities like Beijing have lost traditions and thus go to church to fill their spiritual needs. I cannot even believe that my friends in Beijing do not celebrate birthday according to Chinese calendar, let alone ancestral worships, and etc.

So I would take this article with grain of salt, esp. with regard to house churches. I have no respect for those so called urban dwellers in northern cities. They are the first to join Church for material benefits when they came to the U.S.

 

[ptldM3]

It's time to crush these religious spreading in China. CPC needs to get tough on Christians. The Christians always spread their religion by converting people. China should remain an atheist country. Religion destroys countries. Muslims spread their religion too but no where near as bad as those Christians. The west uses these converted Chinese Christians to support the west and western agendas. Chinese Christians are traitors. I hope the CPC find every Christian and kick them out of China. We don't want these treasonous rats in our country.

There are Chinese Christians that are far more loyal to their country then you will ever be. A patriot would never call his fellow country men trators and rats and call for them to be kicked out simply because of their personal beliefs. Mind your own business, unless you want others telling you what you should believe.

Another Christian, trying to convice the fellow Chinese that Christianity is on the raise and they have to chose it to cope with the new CHINESE culture.
Let me tell you one thing every religion has its bad side and of all the religion that has florised in the face of Earth there is no other religion that will bet Chistianity in the number of sufferings that it has caused to human kind, since the time of Crusades, to the time mordern times of world war 2 (Hitler himself being a Christian).
Lets just retain the religion that we are born into and keep it a private matter and not follow the customs of what the religious books says, because these books are writen for a time that is 1000s of years before.
In my crude opinion MAO was right, Religion is a poison that has wandered the earth too long, its better to embrase athism rather falling in this trap of number fight on which is the fastest growing religion

Hitler was never Christian, he was an atheist. Furthermore, there are many people that call themselves Christians but do not know a thing about the bible or Christianity.

Here is one thing Christianity teaches, and your racist friend Liaoning can take a page too. 'Be quick to listen and slow to speak'.

 

[Shinigami]

i am surprised to see indian members talk ill of christianity when it contributed relatively well to the development of our country

 

[Sasquatch]

Chinese generally have negative image of Christianity due to past events, don't really have problem with my countrymen practicing it as I myself practice an Abrahamic religion(not Christianity), but keep it to myself.

There have been cases in which foreign evangelical missionaries try to convert Illiterate people or people from other religions which causes problems.

Reading the thread Christianity has been growing but some attempts to fearmonger that China is going to become a Christian majority country is untrue.

 

[Sasquatch]

Hitler was never Christian, he was an atheist.

Hitler was raised a devout Catholic and he made many quotes on his faith to god throughout his life. However trying to use Hitler to paint Christianity in a negative light is uncalled for.

 

[zxmint]

Christianity has been in China for quite some time. My impression is that most Han Chinese don't take religion all that seriously. They may go to church a couple of times and may even call themselves Christian but they're hardly partaking in any serious understanding or practice.

It's like Christmas in China. Sure people put up Christmas trees and pictures of St. Nick but it's really only appreciated on a superficial level.

Yeah,you are damn right. I feel like most Chinese people just view a worship like a party, and many of them go to church just because they want to know more people. Most Chinese know nothing but saying "god bless", and they don't follow any religious regulation even if they claim to have religion belief.