Hey look at China

[Foxaèr]

That's okay. I'll cheer for you.

[Brian37]

Defacing churches is not "freedom of religion", but it's not going to stop Christians from being Christian either. The only outcome will be pissed off Christians.

If they want to mitigate the spread and influence of Christianity in China, they'd do better to make public proselytisation illegal and ban faith schools, and I would applaud and support that move in any country. Destroying peoples' places of worship (even if it's just removing the symbolism from the buildings) is taking things too far. That's violence.

NO, they should NOT be defacing churches. Removing the ten commandments from public property back to private property is not the same as what China is doing. They are removing crosses from private property. YES China allows private property. It is a myth that the private sector does not exist there.

Secondly "public proselytizing" SHOULD be legal too. I don't mean monopolies of public venues like city councils or public schools, those things SHOULD be neutral. But a rally that is temporary that everyone has the right to apply for a permit to, no. SORRY, it is simply inhumane no matter how much you think religion divides, to try to force it out of existence by law. The good news for skeptics is that we AND and should use those same venues to the same degree.

 I only agree with government buildings and schools not setting up religious pecking orders and keeping those venues neutral. But "private" does not mean out of view. It only means not funded by the government

[Angrboda]

A little adversity is good for the soul.

You don't have to educate them to be free thinkers. Just enough to give them a taste of disposable income. Spiritual things will lose their luster.

[Brian37]

A little adversity is good for the soul.

You don't have to educate them to be free thinkers.  Just enough to give them a taste of disposable income.  Spiritual things will lose their luster.

No, worship of the private sector as if it shit don't stink is just as much a utopia as a religion itself. I value privacy and private property, but only an idiot thinks our global current crop of uber rich give one fuck about workers. Yes, the more resources humans have the less stressed out they are and the less conflict there will be. But all life is like that and all ecosystems are like that.

I don't think blindly worshiping the private sector is any better than blindly setting up taboos for religion. The best humanity can do to reduce conflict and monopolies, public or private, is to insist on checks and balances and anti monopoly concepts.

[Lek]

China is afraid of christianity, but is also afraid of completely banning it because they don't want to stir up the people.  The problem is when the try to control christians by regulating the sanctioned "churches", the christians go  underground.  When you look back through history, you can see that the christian church has often thrived during periods of persecution.  A woman in my church came from China.  She is one of the most devout christians I have known.  She belonged to a group of underground christians who met in each others homes.

[Gemini]

Looks like China hasn't learned about the Christian persecution complex yet.

They just did a huge favor for Chinese Christians.

*smh*

[Minimalist]

China is afraid of christianity, but is also afraid of completely banning it because they don't want to stir up the people.

Looks as if you know jack shit about Chinese history, too.

[Iroscato]

You don't get people to stop drinking by banning alchohol, and you don't get them to stop worshipping their gods by defacing their holy sites. Like any other drug, prohibition will just cause a whole world of trouble of its own.

[CapnAwesome]

You can't both be for freedom of religion and in favor of what China is doing in that article. So if you are against freedom of religion just say so. If you are in favor of it, condemn China. You don't get to magically do both.

[ignoramus]

No problem in China is that big that a bunch of tanks can't fix!


Not to squish, just to remind them that they are special and need protecting.