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Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're being down-voted because your comment can be construed as justification. Which, if it is, is absolutely deplorable.
I don't think it's a justification, it's a contextualization.
That’s... just evil. Even atheists generally support people’s freedom to read and believe as they please.
Why "even atheists"? Historically, atheists are not even close to the biggest aggressors against Christians. That would be other Christians , probably followed by Muslims (during the ascendancy of the Caliphates).
On the other hand, clearly many atheists allow others to have different beliefs, including Christian beliefs, and to allow religious texts to be distributed (such as the Bible).
This seems to be much more about power and control over the Chinese people.
Any identity or belief system other then that which the state provides is a threat to totalitarian states. You see this clearly over the last two hundred years with the criminalization of Christianity not only in China and Russia, but Nazi Germany (which alternatively tried to co-opt and then destroy churches), the middle east (which has had a open war between various Muslim sects and states for the last 75 years), South East asia, etc. Hell, even the french revolution attempted to suppress religion - with the Martyrs of Compiègne and the cult of the supreme being, and the cult of reason.
States which promise Utopia cannot accept any alternative to the state vision of how to reach Utopia.
The difference now is that the amount of power that a modern state has far outstrips the power the Hitler and Stalin's Gestapo and NKVD.
How much you want to bet that your Chinese "credit score" goes down if you read the Bible? Or 1984. Or Sanzijing.
Its worth noting the absolutely insane impact that cargo cult Christianity had on China which arguably caused the Chinese civil war. That might be some context as to why Christianity has been singled out? EDIT: why would you downvote this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Heavenly_Kingdom From the source: > A self-proclaimed convert to Christianity, Hong Xiuquan ... [claimed] ... that he was the second son of Go…
You're being down-voted because your comment can be construed as justification. Which, if it is, is absolutely deplorable.
None of that in any, shape or form ever seeks to justify it. Just understand it.
For an authoritarian government to work long term they have to be the highest power. This is why the Soviets worked so hard to destroy the church as well as the concept of family, people who value god or family above the government are a threat. In effect the government has to become god.
Crisis and Leviathan by Robert Higgs is an essential read on this.
Its worth noting the absolutely insane impact that cargo cult Christianity had on China which arguably caused the Chinese civil war. That might be some context as to why Christianity has been singled out? EDIT: why would you downvote this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Heavenly_Kingdom From the source: > A self-proclaimed convert to Christianity, Hong Xiuquan ... [claimed] ... that he was the second son of Go…
Christianity isn't being singled out. Islam is also a target. They oppress the hell out of the Uighurs too. (Although they do tolerate the Hui but the Hui have been in China for centuries and are generally assimilated)
They also targeted the Falun Gong.
As a rule of thumb, anything that represents an alternate source of authority in China will be targeted and oppressed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The church has literally zero power to do anything in the UK. That's not for lack of trying and a direct consequence of doing exactly that.[1] Also: (edit: Northern) Ireland is very much a part of the UK and the church has a lot of power there. > We live in secular societies and I cannot believe your statement is provably true. You don't have to believe it, that's fine by me. Having lived in Romania and seeing a po…
> Ireland is very much a part of the UK Well, that would simplify one of the thorny issues in Brexit, but, no, it's really very much a separate sovereign nation, and not even one of the UKs former possessions that still shares a monarch with the UK.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Even atheists"? Are atheists pretty evil, but not quite this evil? Are atheists well-known for being anti-freedom? Why "even atheists"?
Atheists have a reputation for being anti-religion. This certainly isn't inherent to Atheism or reflective of all Atheists. However, I have met many Atheists who were highly intolerant or disrespectful of religion.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The church has literally zero power to do anything in the UK. We live in secular societies and I cannot believe your statement is provably true. No church/religion will ever go up against the power of the Chinese state, unless God herself returns to Earth...
> The church has literally zero power to do anything in the UK. That's not for lack of trying and a direct consequence of doing exactly that.[1] Also: (edit: Northern) Ireland is very much a part of the UK and the church has a lot of power there. > We live in secular societies and I cannot believe your statement is provably true. You don't have to believe it, that's fine by me. Having lived in Romania and seeing a po…
Only 27% of Irish people hold a favorable view of the Church. The population are very much cultural Christians, most recently voting in favor of gay marriage and likely to rewrite the constitution to allow for limited abortion.
The power of the Church is very limited and waning. Although just a few decades ago they did have considerable power, it's kind of incredible in retrospect.
Another sign (among many) that China is preparing for significant social unrest and probably global instability. I suspect the CCP has concluded that a rebalancing of its economy is inevitable, close at hand, and will be painful for most Chinese. The scale of China's challenge, maintaining order in a nation of its size, guarantees there will be overreach. I thought we might see mesh-networking emerge in Iran as a mea…