Christians under Attack in China

Frederick W. Stakelbeck Jr. is bang on in his assessment of religious freedom in China or the lack thereof as he elaborates on recent beatings and arrests.

Front Page Mag Excerpt: But in typical Beijing fashion, Chinese President Hu Jintao’s government has clamped down on religious dissidents, viewing a rise in spirituality as a threat to its authority and power. Corinna-Barbara Francis, an East Asia researcher at Amnesty International, says there's evidence persecution of dissidents has increased. “There's been a serious crackdown on a whole range of human rights defenders in China already," Francis said this month. In particular, China’s approximately 25 million Christians, a group including both Protestants and Roman Catholics, have become the focus of Beijing’s increasing resentment and suspicion

International law notes that freedom of belief is not a right to be granted by the state, but a practice that is to be protected by the state. Beijing continues to follow a policy of telling the world what it wants to hear so that it will get what it wants – so far, that policy has worked perfectly. But in time, the country’s leadership will need to recognize and accept religion as an integral part of Chinese culture; otherwise, it will face a national revolution that even Chairman Mao would find hard to suppress. (more)