Laos, Vietnam, and China to name a few.
In China, it is recognised that rule of law and property rights is not enough sustainable economic growth. A moral culture that most people follow is also necessary. But thanks to Marxism, Confucianism has been decimated and no one believes in the Marxist-Maoist alternative which just legitamise existing power arrangements. So, Beijing is in a quandry.
That is why Communists are especially agressive against Catholics. Our allegiance is to a higher authority than the State.
Related link: Rome vs. Beijing: China's Catch-22 ~ American Spectator
In China, it is recognised that rule of law and property rights is not enough sustainable economic growth. A moral culture that most people follow is also necessary. But thanks to Marxism, Confucianism has been decimated and no one believes in the Marxist-Maoist alternative which just legitamise existing power arrangements. So, Beijing is in a quandry.
This brings us squarely to the issue of religion. Even someone as militantly anti-Catholic as Voltaire acknowledged Christianity's civilizing effects upon those whom he dismissed as the great-unwashed.
And religion is plainly on the rise in China. Five years ago, the English language version of the Communist Party's newspaper, China Daily, reported on the results of studies done by Shanghai University professors which indicated that millions of Chinese -- especially the young and particularly in the special economic zones -- were becoming Christian.Christianity is not really such a bad thing, as long as it can be controlled. But here in lies the problem.
Beijing's predicament, however, is that the same Christianity which provides people with a moral compass in rapidly changing societies also insists the state is not God and may not exercise religious authority over the Church. This position is especially pronounced in Catholicism.
That is why Communists are especially agressive against Catholics. Our allegiance is to a higher authority than the State.
Related link: Rome vs. Beijing: China's Catch-22 ~ American Spectator
I've read that there are as many as 80,000,000 Christians in China now.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1950s there were a dozen Christians in Nepal, now there are about 3,000,000 and the number of Christians in India has doubled from 2% to 4% over the last few decades. There is also massive growth in Africa. It seems that while Christianity is declining in the West it is growing globally - God really does know what he's doing.
I was at Harvest a month or so ago and about 3,000 people of the 20,000 that were there over the two nights answered the Alter Call. The number of Chinese and Korean faces was staggering...