China and Christians

For Christians, today is the most Holy day of the year, Easter Sunday, the day where we celebrate the rising of Jesus Christ from the grave, signifying in a broader sense the fact that we will all rise one day and be with him in Heaven.  Not everyone reading this will be a Christian and as such I will not dwell on the spiritual aspect of this day.  Everyone has different religions and everyone should have the right to worship as they choose.  Many countries allow people to worship as they choose, not all obviously, but many, including China according to their constitution.  However, in China, if you wish to worship freely, Christians especially must worship in a church run by a state-controlled organization.  Today in China, 30 or so Christians were detained after attempting to worship at an "illegal church" in the city of Beijing.   This church is illegal only in the sense that it is not run by a state-controlled organization.  Most Christians in recent years have taken to worshiping in houses as opposed to churches.  The numbers are staggering.  60 million Christians worship in houses versus 20 million in the state run churches. 

The main problem arises when church goers attempt to register with the state.  Apparently in 2006, this specific group of worshipers, some of who were detained on Sunday, attempted to register with the state but were rejected for some reason.  Then in 2009, they bought property from the state in a section of Beijing in order to worship according to the government's rules, but through government interference were never allowed to occupy the space.  For some reason, China sees Christians as a threat to their power.   Going to church and praying have now become actions which the government sees as suspicious, especially with the growing number of people that are Christians.  Yet if you look at the numbers, China, with over 1 billion people is scared of a religion that has worshipers making up less than 10% of the population.  Freedom of religion in China is obviously just on paper.  In reality, the freedom of religion is a convoluted process by which China can keep a close eye on any activity in order to maintain order and peace.  Religions around the world are subject to prejudice and scrutiny, not just Christianity.  Anywhere that a religion is in the minority and understanding of the religion is minimal, you can be sure that it will be scrutinized and efforts will be made to control it. 

Religion, if you look at the fundamental basics of it, is there to teach people how to lead a better life, give them hope that their lives mean something, and provide a means by which they can move towards an afterlife or heaven amongst other things.  Even in the United States now, a largely Christian nation, Islam is being subjected to increased scrutiny and prejudice by those that do not understand it and are in essence fearful of it.  I am not saying that we all must believe in someone else's religion, but we must move past our fearfulness and prejudice about those religions we do not worship in order to accept people for who they are and what they worship.  Luckily in the United States, people do have the freedom to worship and the federal government makes no efforts to prevent people from doing that.  Individuals on the other hand will, but I fear that there are those that will always be prejudiced against that which they do not understand because they do not take the time to understand it.  Today, on this Holiest of days for Christians, let us all, regardless of which religion you follow, seek to understand others a little better so that we can move to eradicate prejudice from our lives and allow for more freedom for all.