The Ebb and Flow of Religion: Islam and Christianity in China


My Grandmother's brother, my great Uncle, was a Christian missionary in China. His name was Obed Johnson. He grew up on a farm about two miles from our family farm. He was in China for several years and established a church there. His former church in now used by some business. His contribution to a Christian China is gone. If there are Christian descendants anywhere there we don't know about them. The Catholic Church and other Western denominations continue to spend lots of donated money trying to establish their religion in China. 

I recall as a child back in my little evangelical church in Iowa there was a dramatic announcement that two missionaries from our denomination had been killed in China. I suppose the hat was passed to help the families. 

Christianity is not the only religion trying to shoe horn its way into China's huge population. Islam was once a huge religion there, only to be stamped out, like much of Christianity, by the cultural revolution. I'm sure some branches of Islam continue to take money from their people to convert Chinese.

Everyday in Christianpost.com are stories of Christians in China, India and Africa being harassed, injured and killed for their faith. It should not happen. But reality is reality. It is happening now and no doubt will continue. It seems ridiculous to me to collect money from people here in the U.S. and spend it on such folly. 

Sometimes it is not corporate religion who goes to these places. There are persuasive individuals who raise their own money. One such woman who did this was killed recently in Central America. A few years ago on this blog I discussed an Iranian native and preacher in Oregon who became obsessed with operating an orphans' home in Iran so he could convert the children to Christianity. He was jailed. His wife worked tirelessly to free him including daily coverage on Christianpost and private visits with President Obama. As soon as he was released she divorced him and got a restraining order. It turns is a psycho and she is still afraid of him. 

Everyone, including our government, should refuse to help convert people in other countries to Christianity.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe the "Original Sin" Should be Reassigned

Image
We can all agree most Catholic priests are fine people and not guilty of sexual abuse. What Catholics must face, however, it that their church harbors executives who are dishonest . There is an incredible story about the Argentine Bishop Zanchetta. The Pope worked with him in Argentina and they are considered friends. Around 2015 Zanchetta sent nude pictures of himself and they began circulating world wide. He also was too friendly with young seminarians and some left because of him.  Three different officials say they made formal complaints to the Vatican about Zanchetta between 2015 and 2017. Yet, in 2018, the Vatican claimed it was unaware of any complaints about Zanchetta. This might be a good time to repeat the Catholic hierarchy claims to have the sole authority handed down from Jesus to what the faith stands for. It condemns as sinners those who practice birth control, have abortions and gay sexual relationships. Handing the hierarchy this responsibility would make som
Read more

The Religious Capitol Invaders May Yet Win

Image
So much about U.S. society and religion can be learned from the Civil War and what happened afterwards. After its defeat, the South started a myth about the unethical soldiers from the North. The South fought for principles of God and states rights. The North did not. It was the South, this propaganda told the country, that had the high moral ground.  The Capitol invaders, encouraged by Trump, swallowed the myth that Biden's election was stolen. Thus, they think they held and still hold the high moral ground. This was reinforced by the cross and prayers during the invasion. Even with Trump is gone, we will see political opportunists like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley stroking crowds and feeding the same lies as Trump. Like "the South will rise again" these gullible followers will talk of victory over the unclean. After the Civil War the South rallied around the phrase, Lost Cause. For decades, and maybe to this day, there are ceremonies remembering fallen martyrs, Re
Read more

Father Frank Pavone, the Ultimate Crook

Image
Recently, the Vatican defrocked Frank Pavone. His diehard fans are outraged. This is because he cleverly manipulated his fans and the press all the while living well from donations and, apparently, abusing some women. By making abortion the "sin" of the century, and himself the main opposition to this one sin, he himself could get away with any sin he pleased.  As the link points out, Pavone was the perfect priest for the Trump era. Trump is so self-important laws have no role in his life. He felt accountable to no one. Women were there to be had. Pavone and Trump are interchangeable.  Pavone was very successful raising money. In his mind, abortion was so important in Catholic beliefs and he was so important in anti-abortion the money he raised opposing it was his to do with what he liked. The Catholic Church, the brand name he used to raise this money, thought the money belonged to it. When he gave the Vatican the bird, it gave him walking papers. With polls showing the majo
Read more