Religion in China Quotes

“Wikipedia: Religion in China”

“"If Your Religion is a Xie Jiao, You Go to Jail – But What Is A Xie Jiao?" by Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter (August 9, 2018)”

“"True Jesus Church: A Chinese Pentecostal Movement" by Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter (October 10, 2019)”

“What is the truth about the persecution of The Church of Almighty God (CAG) and other groups labeled “xie jiao” (heterodox movements, sometimes translated as “evil cults”) in China? Chinese embassies and their fellow travelers go to great lengths to claim that [the] persecution [against various groups whom the Chinese Communist Party calls "xie jiao"] is an invention of American propaganda or Western scholars…”

“The Chinese [Communist Party] government’s campaign against “xie jiao” has long been criticized for its lack of transparency and its conflation of spiritual diversity with criminality. By involving children, the state not only deepens the stigmatization of targeted groups but also risks psychologically harming the very citizens it claims to protect.”

“China seems to have been very much similar to the West, both in the production of new religious movements and in attracting to them figures from the political left who were officially promoting the struggle against “superstition.” Reconstructions of “Chinese traditional culture” as “non-religious,” and of the rich Chinese religious pluralism as mere “folk religion” should be viewed as propaganda rather than history.”

“American anti-cultists involved in early deprogramming activities such as Rick Ross (despite his heavy criminal record) were invited to China to advise on how to deprogram Falun Gong practitioners.”

“The struggle for religious freedom in China is a testament to the enduring desire for spiritual fulfillment and the right to practice one’s faith freely. It is a reminder of the importance of standing in solidarity with those who face persecution [of different kinds] and the need for continued advocacy for religious liberty as a fundamental [civil or natural] right. It’s also a reminder that compromise with the [Chinese Communist Party] is impossible.”

“We go to fetch earth from China, as if we had none; stuff, as if we were without stuff; a small herb to infuse into water, as if our climates did not afford simples. In return, which is a very commendable zeal, we are for converting the Chinese; but we should not offer to dispute their antiquity, and tell them that they are idolaters; for, indeed, what would be thought of a capuchin, who, after being kindly entertained at a seat of the Montmorenci's, should go about to persuade them, that they were but newly-made nobles, like secretaries of state, and accuse them of being idolaters, having observed in this seat, two or three of the constable's statues, which they highly value?”

“When Protestant missionaries set up shop in China, they discovered that a native term roughly meaning “God” was Shangdi, so they appropriated this term as name of the Christian God. (Catholics preferred Tianzhu, the “Heavenly Boss”.) What they did not know, is that the Chinese language mostly does without the separate category of a plural, so the same word can be both plural and singular. Shangdi does not so much mean “the Sovereign on High”, as rather “the Powers on High”. In Chinese, even the grammar militates against the contrast between one and many. To monotheists this numerical matter is all-important, worthy of the iconoclastic destruction of all the “false gods”; but to regular people such as Hindus or Confucians and Daoists, it is just not an issue.”