Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
China: The Economics of Religious Freedom
China: The Economics of Religious Freedom
Mar 9, 2026 1:26 PM

Here’s a summary of a piece over at Forum 18:

Economics has a large effect on China’s religious freedom, Forum 18 News Service notes. Factors such as the need of munities for non-state e, significant regional wealth disparities, conflicts over economic interests, and artificially-induced dependence on the state e all provide the state with alternative ways of exercising control over munities. Examples where economics has a noticeable effect on religious freedom include, to Forum 18’s knowledge, the Buddhist Shaolin Temple’s business enterprises, clashes between Buddhist temple personnel and the tourism industry, the demolition of a Protestant church in Zhejiang Province, the expropriation of Catholic properties in Xian and Tianjin mercial development, the dependence of senior state-sanctioned religious leaders on the state for personal e, petition between and amongst registered and unregistered religious groups. Perhaps the greatest beneficiary of economic clashes is the state, which can use both control of e and also favouritism in economic conflicts to restrict religious freedom.

The Voice of the Martyrs News & Prayer Update also passed this along from the China Aid Association:

A pastor in the Three-Self Church in Pinglu County, Shanxi Province was prohibited from preaching and forced to leave the church by the Religious Affairs Bureau. The Pinglu Church invited a Hong Kong-based American pastor, Dennis be (Chinese name Bao Dening), to visit the church. The evening of July 9th, the head of the Pinglu Religious Affairs Bureau, Zhang Lianjie, came to the church and tried to dismiss the Bible classes and forbid the children to listen to Bible stories. He returned the next day with more officials, forcing the elders to retract their invitation to Pastor Bao Dening. In spite of immense pressure, church activities continued. On July 24th, Zhang came again and announced that a meeting would be held the next day to “discuss” Pastor Hu Qinghua’s leaving Pinlu. All the members of TSPM (Three-Self-Patriotic Movement) and CCC (Chinese Christianity Council) were to be at the meeting. The meeting began at 6 p.m. and the elders enumerated the achievements of Pastor Hu since taking charge of the church. The meeting continued till 11 p.m., but no matter how hard the elders insisted, Zhang Lianjie declared that Pastor Hu Qinghua had to leave Pinglu Church immediately. Pastor Hu Qinghua has left Pinglu, but he still tries fort and encourage the brothers and sisters in Linglu Church, by phone, to stand firm in the truth.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Acton University Friday Photo Recap
Friday was the last day of Acton University 2012. Here are a few photos from the day’s events. Did you miss AU this year? Be sure to check out our downloadable lectures here. AU participants walk to the DeVos Convention Center Anthony Bradley reviews the AU speaker listing AU participants walk to an ing session Andreas Widmer talks to Rev. Robert Sirico Grand Rapids from the DeVos Convention Center Speaker Rudy Carrasco checks puter during AU AU participants at the...
The Heresy of the Prosperity Gospel
We have just wrapped up Acton University, our annual conference that focuses on integrating Christian theology and sound economic thinking. In light of that, it was interesting to read this post at , “America’s Premier Heresy,” where Scot McKnight takes a look at the Prosperity Gospel, especially as presented by Pastor Joel Osteen. If you’re not familiar with the Prosperity Gospel, it preaches that God wants all of us to be wealthy and healthy in this life, and that riches...
Doubling Down on Pascal’s Wager
The Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) held its annual synod this week, and among the items it dealt with were overtures and mendations related to the issues of climate change and creation care. The synod adopted statements along the following lines: There is a near-consensus in the munity that climate change is occurring and very likely is caused by human activity.Human-induced climate change is an ethical, social justice, and religious issue.The CRC pelled to take private and public...
Interviews on Innovation, Distributism, Communitarianism, and Vocational Stewardship
Last week we mentioned the interviews of Rev. Sirico and Andreas Widmer conducted by Joseph Gorra. Over the weekend Gorra added four more excellent interviews of Acton University faculty. The first is an interview with Kishore Jayabalan, director of Istituto Acton in Rome, on Distributism as a ‘Third Way’: Gorra: Why do you think distributist premises are so appealing to some? Jayabalan: Distributism is appealing because it recognizes that there is more to life than economics and especially the production...
Make the Moral Case for Free Enterprise and Win $40,000
If you have a videocamera and can make the moral case for free enterprise, then our friends at the American Enterprise Institute have the contest for you: The American Enterprise Institute is serious about reinvigorating America’s spirit of free enterprise. Big ambitions require big promotions, which is why AEI is proud to announce a $50,000 video contest, “Make the Moral Case for Free Enterprise,” to unleash the market’s creative potential. We’re calling on everyone who loves America’s system of free...
Interview: Rev. Sirico responds to ‘Is Capitalism Immoral?’
On the Patheos Evangelical channel, Joseph E. Gorra talks to Rev. Robert A. Sirico, Acton Institute president and co-founder, about the publication of his new book, Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy. Gorra frames the interview with this question: “Countless detractors over the years have argued that capitalism is intrinsically immoral. Is it true?” Patheos: As you know, “capitalism” and “free markets” often invoke all sorts of various (even contradictory) images and ideas for different...
Acton University Thursday Photo Recap
Thursday at Acton University included a lot of high quality lectures, including ones from Eric Metaxas, Victor Claar, Samuel Gregg, Jon Pinheiro, and Jonathan Witt. Here are just a few photos of the day’s events. If you’d like to listen to some of these lectures, we have a digital downloads page for AU2012 set up where you can buy each for $0.99 here. AU participants prepare for the PovertyCure screening Grand Rapids, MI in the evening Eric Metaxas makes a...
Amity Shlaes and the ‘Forgotten President’
I just read the introduction to Amity Shlaes’s ing biography, Coolidge: Debt, Perseverance and the American Ideal. She has been very gracious in taking an interest in the work I have been doing on Coolidge and my recent mentary on the 30th president. Shlaes was interviewed in the Fall 2007 issue of Religion & Liberty about her book The Forgotten Man. I quickly realized in my own research there is no biography that captures Coolidge’s deep relevancy for today given...
Government’s Purpose Is to Improve Health?
In an interview with Charlie Rose on CBS’s This Morning, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said, If government’s purpose isn’t to improve the health and longevity of its citizens, I don’t know what its purpose is. Since Bloomberg seems to be unclear about the purpose of government, perhaps we should make him a list. How about: establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for mon defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our...
Truth and Blessings at Acton University
On the drive over to Acton University this morning I heard an argument on the radio about how the economy would have been fixed if only the dollar amount of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 would have been doubled. What a sad statement to pin your hope to in order to fix the American economy. That argument is unlikely to be uttered at Acton University. Fixing economic problems and lifting up the human condition is not measured...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved