Religion proved to be a strong counter to communism in Eastern Europe. It's no wonder they're scared.
and strong supporters of nazis... (speaking about catholics)
China Bans Online Bible Sales as It Tightens Religious Controls
61–70 of 150 posts
Re: China Bans Online Bible Sales as It Tightens Religious Controls
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are afraid of other power blocks and that's what churches really are when you strip away the veneer. You can still see this all over Europe, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, Ireland, England, Spain and Italy have very powerful religious entities, and in many other countries even though the religious fractions are not quite that powerful they still have lot of power to influence politics and life in ge…
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...
...will ever go up against the power of the Chinese state.
There are lots of examples of religious fervor going up against a state and winning. If a movement gains sufficient mindshare and it’s adherents are sufficiently galvanized then things that get in the way have a tendency to fail. This possibility should not be discounted so cavalierly.
Re: China Bans Online Bible Sales as It Tightens Religious Controls
#63Jesus's anarchosyndicalism must be dangerous.
Re: China Bans Online Bible Sales as It Tightens Religious Controls
#64Another 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 means for protestors to organize and communicate. Didn't happen. Now I think there's a pretty good chance China's restrictive communications networks are going to result in some real innovation in ad-hoc networking and covert communication as the months and years progress. The next Twitter may be found among USB keys embedded in brick walls, or rogue routers covertly attached to outlets in public bathrooms.
Ironically, the outcome would be better for all concerned if China allowed the debate and unrest to play itself out and impact policy. History proves bottoms-up accountability delivers much better outcomes than top-down oversight.
Re: China Bans Online Bible Sales as It Tightens Religious Controls
#65Any Chinese interested in reading a Bible will just download it. Restricting access to the printed version will have very little impact and will likely increase demand, because banning books usually does that.
Religious conversion is not about making a religion available to those who are interested. Money, muscle, propaganda, deceit -all are used to recruit new members.
Re: China Bans Online Bible Sales as It Tightens Religious Controls
#66Its 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.
I don't think it's a justification, it's a contextualization.
Re: China Bans Online Bible Sales as It Tightens Religious Controls
#67What are the Chinese government so scared of! They have complete control in a way not possible in the West, I can’t really foresee how the state would be overthrown by the people there?
There is a great two pay PBS documentary called "China - A Century of Revolution". It's fascinating to watch. It shows how the was just one BS revolution after another, each of them leading to destruction and unfathomable suffering. By the time you get to the protests leading up to the Tianmen massacre you'll go "Fuck no! Not again!" It's incredible to watch that in yourself and leads to greater understanding of Chin…
If you liked that, check out the book "Wealth and Power": https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Power-Chinas-Twenty-first-Cent...
It's a book on the history of these revolutions from 1850 onward.
Re: China Bans Online Bible Sales as It Tightens Religious Controls
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
And yes the US doesn’t always treat foreigners as welcome either. :-/
No doubt... It's just strange China is literally chasing away some serious talent because they don't agree with their moral code.
They have plenty of people, last I heard. Plus or minus one million people here or there doesn't really make any dent on their society and getting rid of "undesirables" without mass murder looks very beneficial in the eyes of the authorities.
Re: China Bans Online Bible Sales as It Tightens Religious Controls
#69Earlier 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…
There is a Falun Gong group here in Kansas that had a float in local parade. Funny that they didn't have the swastika emblem shown on they wiki.
Re: China Bans Online Bible Sales as It Tightens Religious Controls
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are afraid of other power blocks and that's what churches really are when you strip away the veneer. You can still see this all over Europe, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, Ireland, England, Spain and Italy have very powerful religious entities, and in many other countries even though the religious fractions are not quite that powerful they still have lot of power to influence politics and life in ge…
Poland and Ireland yes, but that's because of popular support. The church despite its past popularity as well as its resources has little influence on politics in Spain, Italy, Germany.
In Germany the Church still manages to use the government to fill its coffers, and the Christian Democratic party has been a major force in politics for decades.
In Spain we have this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Party_(Spain)
And in Italy we have the Pope as one powerful element, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(Italy) (which is Christian 'left').
That it is with 'popular support' is obvious to me, that's the whole point of these movements, to get so many people into their organization that you're going to have to take them into account. That's been their strategy for centuries, if it was just a bunch of priests nobody would care.