Christian Conflict in China, Despite Assumed Religious 'Freedom'

Christian Conflict in China, Despite Assumed Religious 'Freedom'

"Perhaps the gravest under-publicized atrocity in the world is the persecution of Christians." (Black). With a population of 1.351 billion, China is the world's most populous country and is located in east Asia bordering the Pacific Ocean.

China is a 'Socialist State,' which is used in reference to a state under the control of a party that organizes the economic, social, and political dealings of the state toward the building of socialism. There has been a lot of religious activity in China, and for years Christians have been persecuted and also arrested for meeting together. They often are hiding from the authorities even though many people believe the claim that there is "religious freedom." The History of Christian conflict and persecution in China goes way back, to even before Christianity was banned for a century in the late 17th century. There is a lot of ground to cover about the history and current state of Christian conflict in China, examples are, other religions, the history of religious conflicts, and the pre-modern to modern history of China.

Not only does the government cause problems for Christians, but other religions too. Prior to the Communist Revolution, numerous philosophical systems and religions were exercised. Buddhism, a generally believed religion, came to China from India in the early first-century. More than sixty-eight million of the Chinese still regard themselves to be Buddhist even though they don't practice the occasional rituals and services as they did centuries ago. There are many other religions like Islam, and also philosophical/ethical systems like Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism. Religion is disapproved by the communists ...

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...ho lived out their faith. Adversaries of Christians will never fade away, so the house/underground churches in China must stay strong along with believers around the world.

“We never pray against our government or call down curses on them. Instead, we have learned that God is in control both of our own lives and the government we live under. God has used China's government for His own purposes, molding and shaping His children as He sees fit. Instead of focusing our prayers against any political system, we pray that regardless of what happens to us, we will be pleasing to God" (Yun).

This was only a short overview of what Christians had to deal with from pre-modern to modern history and all the way up to now. Nobody knows if Christianity will be banned for a century like it did in the 17th century, but that didn't stop Christians from following Jesus the Son of God.