Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
China: The Economics of Religious Freedom
China: The Economics of Religious Freedom
Mar 29, 2026 8:37 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
The Fiscal Cliff Deal and Intergenerational Justice
So … what happened? With regular coverage of the US “Fiscal Cliff” running up to the new year, PowerBlog readers may be wondering where the discussion has gone. While I am by no means the most qualified ment on the matter, I thought a basic summary and critique would be in order: With six minutes to read this 157 page bill, the US House of Representatives passed it. (Note: either I’m an exceptionally slow reader or none of them could...
The Favorite Business Term Shared by Cosmo Kramer and Corporate Fraudsters
In one of my favorite exchanges on the Seinfeld, Cosmo Kramer and Jerry Seinfeld have the following discussion about tax write-offs: Kramer: “It’s a write-off for them.” Jerry: “How is it a write-off?” Kramer: “They just write it off.” Jerry: “Write it off what?” Kramer: “Jerry, all these panies, they write off everything.” Jerry: “You don’t even know what a write-off is.” Kramer: “Do you?” Jerry: “No, I don’t.” Kramer: “But they do. And they’re the ones writing it off.”...
The Fiscal Cliff and the Fifth Commandment
America’s recent fiscal crisis has been delayed, not averted. Even if action is taken within the next few months to cut spending and/or raise taxes, the day of reckoning will only be slightly delayed since no one is willing to touch the three programs that constitute almost half the federal budget: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. As Collin Garbarino argues, this situation will likely continue because “most Americans aren’t ready to have granny living in the spare bedroom.” Everyone, not...
How to Develop a Christian Mind in Business School (Part III)
Note: This is the third in a series on developing a Christian mind in business school. You can find the intro and links to all previous posts here. When people ask me what business school was like, I’m tempted to say, “A lot like a medieval university.” Unfortunately, parison makes people think b-school is dark, musty, and full of monks—which is not quite what I mean. In medieval universities, the three subjects that were considered the first three stages of...
Texas: The Thorn in Progressive Liberalism’s Side
“Hell hath no fury like a tax-and-spend liberal scorned” -Me (like ten minutes ago) ————- In the on-going debate between proponents of Big v. Limited government, it can often be too easy to dismiss the other side on partisan, emotional grounds. The Left accuses the Right of possessing callous hearts toward the poor, indifference toward the “infrastructure” of our nation, and a blind allegiance to nefarious, shadowy 1%-ers who pull the strings of Big (insert any word but “Government” here)....
Is the Government Making Us Fat?
It’s that time of year: we’re making resolutions to get on the treadmill, join the gym, eat an apple every day. And yet, Americans are getting fatter and fatter. Is it the government’s fault? Dr. Jenna Robinson, at The Freeman, believes so. The food pyramid, farm subsidies: it’s all failing us. In the 1990s, American women blindly gobbled up low-fat Snackwells desserts masquerading as sensible treats. After all, Snackwells cookies met government standards: they were low in fat and contained...
Weekend of Prayer: Ending Human Trafficking and Slavery
January 11-13, 2013 has been set aside as a Weekend of Prayer to end human trafficking and slavery. This ecumenical event is meant to not only shed light on the issue but to also pray for victims, slave traders, “johns” and any affected by human trafficking. According to the Weekend of Prayer website, Human Trafficking is the third largest criminal industry in the world with an estimated 32 billion dollars made annually.There are 14,500 and 17,500 people trafficked into the...
Beyond an Earthbound Economics
We humans have a pesky tendency toward earthbound thinking. The natural es more easily to us, for obvious reasons, and thus, even when we aim to e our disposition and contemplate ways to improve things beyond the immediate, it’s hard for us to break out of the box. Much like Judas Iscariot, who reacted harshly to Mary’s outpouring of expensive ointment on Jesus’s feet, we are prone to react only to the material implications,ignoring altogether whether God might prefer us...
Valjean, Lord Acton, and the Common Moral Code
In this week’s Acton Commentary, “The Mundane Morality of Les Misérables,” I explore the new musical film and in particular a transitional episode where the main protagonist, Jean Valjean, is faced with a moral dilemma: “If I speak, I am condemned. If I stay silent, I am damned!” Here’s a performance of the scene from the musical’s 10th anniversary, featuring Colm Wilkinson as Valjean: What we see is Valjean consider, and then reject, an avenue of moral reasoning that would...
New E-Zone Unemployment Rates Should Raise American Alarm
Record unemployment rates in Europe have been published and they should alarm Americans. Why? Because we are headed in the same direction. Nile Gardiner, of The Telegraph, is quite sure of this: The United States isn’t just gliding towards a continental European-style future of vast welfare systems, economic decline, and massive debts – it is accelerating towards it at full speed. Or as Acton Institute research director Samuel Gregg puts it in his excellent new book published today [January 8]...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved