China
China, its culture and religions are in danger. Although they have been in danger from Communism for many decades now, most people there still follow Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism or a mix of these. Yet their government's official policy of presenting the country as atheist is no longer the sole danger to its indigenous religions. Once again the Chinese have to face being opened up to Evangelical organisations along with the Vatican's attempts at converting the nation. Having just survived Communism, Chinese beliefs and culture, which are recognised as ancient, extraordinary and having existed for millennia, are now under threat from Christianity.
China Targeted for Destruction by Christianity:
One cannot help but detect a persistent puffery in every figure included. Not only are substantiatable figures mentioned but also grandiose and [unevidenced] estimates are mentioned (though carefully disclaimed to avoid embarrassment should reliable figures disagree) one cannot help but suspect that this is the work of missionaries who almost universally overestimate their impact on the world.
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One also must wonder to what extent these organizations are infiltrated by anti-chinese intelligence organizations who feel quite free to use missionary movements as cover. While the Red Chinese government is hardly to be supported, it is no surprise if they protect themselves from spies and foreign operatives as does every nation on earth.
Millions all over China convert to Christianity - London Sunday Telegraph August 3, 2005 (reproduced here in Washington Times)
More reasons to fear the destruction of the rich Chinese culture. Nothing has changed, as Christianity continues to prey upon oppressed people. It is to be hoped that these disappointing numbers are merely the usual inflations invented by wishful-thinking missionaries. If Christianity takes over China, it will be the downfall of the country and its ancient civilization.
President George W. Bush Discusses Freedom and Democracy in Asia - November 16, 2005
"As China reforms its economy, its leaders are finding that once the door to freedom is opened even a crack, it can not be closed. President Hu has explained to me his vision of "peaceful development," and he wants his people to be more prosperous. I have pointed out that the people of China want more freedom to express themselves, to worship without state control, to print Bibles and other sacred texts without fear of punishment...By meeting the legitimate demands of its citizens for freedom and openness, China's leaders can help their country grow into a modern, prosperous, and confident nation."Bush clearly spoke his mind on how Chinese people should have the freedom "To print Bibles", adding as an afterthought "and other sacred texts" (not that Born-Again Bush would know of any other sacred-text). Apparently, Bush seems to know better than the Chinese themselves (Confucianists, Daoists and Buddhists for the most part) that all they really want is to print Bibles and be evangelised like the Koreans.
His statements were welcomed by "human rights" groups like Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which works for Christian religious freedom in other countries. They want the kind of religious freedom that Christians enjoy in Korea to spread all over Asia. In Korea , this includes the freedom to act on Christian intolerance and destroy indigenous religions with impunity.
In the news
Elderly Chinese living outside China are not safe from being proselytised either:
Illinois Chinese American Residence for the Elderly harassed residents into Bible study - Chicago Sun Times, August 2005
Residents of a Westmont public housing complex for seniors said in a federal lawsuit filed Monday that they were coerced and harassed by management into practicing Christianity and pressured to attend Bible study classes.
Five former and current residents of the complex, along with housing advocate Hope Fair Housing, are suing the complex and its property manager, saying they used "coercive, harassing and restrictive rules and regulations to impose their 'Christian' beliefs upon current residents."The defendants in the case include the Illinois Chinese American Residence for the Elderly, 501 N. Cass Ave. in Westmont, Angela Yuan, president of the board of directors, and Providence Management and Development Company Inc.
Other tenants claim in the lawsuit that Yuan visited them individually and demanded they kneel down with her and pray after she learned they had played Mah Jongg, a Chinese game similar to dominoes, in the building.
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Elderly non-Christian residents of the 60-unit complex said they live in a "religiously hostile and intimidating environment," where they are barred from using common rooms for anything non-Christian, including card playing, according to the lawsuit.
Plaintiffs Shen Tong Bea Tu, 87, and Yue Ru Lee, 86, who are non-Christian, say they hid in their apartment bathrooms with the lights off every Wednesday so they wouldn't be forced to attend Bible classes.
The Vatican's Canonization of Saints in China
The Vatican had already set a record for canonising the largest number of individuals ever in one go: in Korea in 1984 a 103 were beatified and sainted. In 2002, Pope John Paul II went well beyond this number by canonising a 120 for China.
Most of those sainted were actually criminals. Yet this comes as no surprise, considering that the late Pope has beatified and attempted to saint Nazi criminals of the Ustashi and even extremely dubious characters like Mother Teresa. See also John Paul II, Saint Factory and recently sainted criminals.
It is also quite a logical move on the Vatican's part, considering that it's been eyeing China, as it has the rest of Asia, for a very long while now. Making saints out of missionaries to China or out of converted Chinese would provide characters relevant to the local scene around which Chinese Catholics could rally, regardless of the crimes committed by those sainted.
A final reason for doing so might merely be to swell the numbers of Catholic Saints once more, which had been reduced by admitting that many Saints previously honoured for centuries have now been officially declared as never having existed.
Escalating charges, China accuses Vatican of making saints of sinners - CNN archives, October 3, 2002:
BEIJING (AP) -- China on Monday accused the pope of making saints of sinful Catholics, countering the Vatican's canonization of 120 martyrs to Chinese religious persecution with a list of their alleged crimes.
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"China's history books are evidence that there were numerous crimes committed by foreign missionaries," [the Xinhua News Agency] said. "But the Vatican not only refuses to repent to the Chinese people, but also goes so far as to distort history by beatifying their monstrous criminal deeds."
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People's Daily, the authoritative newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, said that by canonizing the 120 on Sunday - China's National Day and the 51st anniversary of communist rule - the Vatican "seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people."
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Many of the charges catalogued by Xinhua and People's Daily are long acknowledged by Western historians: missionaries took part in the opium trade and helped foreign governments trying to carve China into spheres of influence in the 19th and early 20th centuries."They sold opium, collected intelligence, participated in invasion, plotted in drafting unequal treaties. All in all, nobody can cover up their sins and crimes," People's Daily said in an editorial to be published Tuesday and read aloud on state television Monday night.
Among the better known examples raised by Xinhua is the case of Auguste Chapdelaine. He preached in an inland county in 1855, violating an 1844 treaty with France that allowed proselytizing in certain port cities, and was put to death. France used the execution to launch military campaigns against China.
Lesser known were the cases of Aldericus Crescitelli, killed in the Boxer Uprising, and Franciscus de Capillas, executed by a court in 1648. Xinhua accused them of rape, adultery and extortion.
[the newspaper said] "...[the Vatican] failed to express any remorse for the crimes it has committed against the Chinese."
More - Chinese news:
- Articles from People's Daily Online (mentioned in the CNN article above):
- True Colors of "Saints" Exposed
- contains more extensive documentation on several of the infamous characters now sainted:Auguste Chapdelaine (1814-1856): According to many archives, he collaborated with corrupt local officials, raped women and was notorious in those areas.
Chapdelaine defied the ancient Chinese custom of worshipping deceased ancestors and ordered all his followers to stop such practices and forbade them to marry their children to nobody other than Catholic adherents, which led to many family and clan feuds.
It was also known that he cohabited with an attractive widow by the name of Cao, and induced other pretty women to join the church so that he could fool around with them.
He even resorted to using local bandits to expand his "evangelical influences." He bribed local officials so that the bandits would not be punished.
When church followers married, he held mass for them and many times he raped the brides, according to archives that quoted local people in Xilin.Albericus Crescitelli (1863-1900): No one could escape from being raped by this "saint." The wives of local Catholics Pan Changfu, Zheng Ganren and Yang Hai had all been raped by the missionary before marriage.
Franciscus de Capillas (1607-1648): had a penchant for converting young women and caused domestic instability and divorces. A young woman by the name of Chen in Xiapi, a village in Fu'an in Fujian province had been engaged. Capillas told her that she should remain a virgin and forced her to break off the engagement. In the end, the young woman fell into his hands and was spirited away.
It was also known that he broke the Catholic rule of celibacy and committed adultery with a widow who later gave birth to a girl....the smuggling activities of "Saint" Franciscus Fogolla. He collected many "gifts" when he was in Taiyuan of Shanxi province, mostly bronze sculptures and silver utensils, and brought 40 boxes of precious Chinese antiques to Italy.
Also included is brief information on some of the intolerant Chinese converts honoured with sainthood:
"Being a foreign missionary he collected many Chinese relics and traded them for 'a considerable amount of money..."Ioannes Baptista Luo Ting-Yin ... was known for beating a group of children in front of a church, because he thought that their happy folk songs were an insult to God.
Augustinus Zhao Rung ... known in China for launching verbal attacks against Buddhism and Daoism.
Petrus Wu Guo-Sheng ... was hated in that area for forcing people to go to church by relying on foreigners with influence there. Even a 3-year old child, let alone others, who passed his gate, would be forced to go to his home to recite verses from the Bible.
- Vatican's Planned Canonization of "Saints" Slammed says:
... the Vatican should repent of the past crimes against the Chinese people committed by the missionaries, instead of allowing certain people in the Holy See to further tamper with history and fool the world under the guise of the term canonization.
- Chinese FM Protests Vatican "Canonization" states:
In disregard of the strong opposition of the Chinese side, the Vatican held on October 1 a ceremony for the "canonization" of a number of foreign missionaries and their followers, who committed notorious crimes in China.
- True Colors of "Saints" Exposed
- China's State Administration of Religious Affairs spokesman on Vatican's "Canonization of Saints" - from the Chinese embassy in Australia:
Auguste Chatdelaine, a French missionary, was punished for his felonies, but the imperialists made use of this "religious incident" as pretext to launch the second Opium War and later burn Yuanmingyuan, the Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens, in Beijing.
Aldericus Crescitelli, an infamous Italian missionary canonized today, was notorious for taking the "right to the first night" of each bride under his diocese.