Faith Meets Life: China has something to prove
The most interesting interview I heard about the 2008 Olympics stated that the Chinese government really didn't care what the rest of the world thought of the Games. Its real goal was to impress its own people.
Probably this is a perspective shared by more than a few, which makes sense. The Chinese state, tired of being seen as a nation of peasants, pre-modern and repressive, where human rights are concerned is striving to be seen as a nation that has at last arrived. It was willing to host the Olympics, a decidedly Western event spawned well outside of China in Greece. But it did so for its own reasons.
And it did so on its own terms.
A CBC web posting reports that human rights groups consider the 2008 Olympics a defeat. Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch is quoted as saying, “. . . the Games has been a catalyst for abuses, leading to massive forced evictions, a surge in the arrest, detention and harassment of critics. . . Not a single world leader who attended the games seized the opportunity to challenge the Chinese government's behaviour in any meaningful way.”
This brings to (my) mind a section from the Christian Old Testament. The prophet Amos (among others actually) castigated the ruling elite of his time. While they took pride in their religious ceremonies, they were fleecing the poor and dispossessing weaker families of their ancestral lands. Of course, the 2008 Olympics was not a religious event, or was it?
Actually, this would not be the first time that the Chinese appropriated something from the West on its own terms. The Chinese government's use of Communism — which originated in the mind of a German Economist working in London, England, Karl Marx — is one such instance.
Another is the current Christian movement in China. Arguably, the real revolution in 20th Century China has not been the Communist. It is widely acknowledged today that attempts to suppress Christianity by the government have failed miserably. According to the spring 2008 issue of Christian History and Biography, since 1980, in the near total absence of Western missionaries, the number of Protestant Christians has mushroomed to about 55 million and the number of Catholic to roughly 13.
In an attempt to repress this growing movement, the government in 1983 arrested hundreds of House Church leaders and sent them to “Anti-Spiritual Pollution Camps.” To the credit of the Chinese government they were released. The late Billy Graham met with high-level officials during his visit to China in 1988, calming relations between the government and the growing Christian movement they seemed to fear.
Today the leadership of missionaries from Western churches is of little consequence. The Chinese people have learned that they are able to embrace Christianity on their own terms.
But this should not be completely surprising. Christianity did not originate in the West. It originated in the Jewish community beginning around the year 30. People in the West have appropriated it on their own terms. Likewise for many Asians and countless Africans.
Michael Veenema was a Christian chaplain at Fanshawe until 2004. He continues to write from his home and hang outs in Nova Scotia.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
Probably this is a perspective shared by more than a few, which makes sense. The Chinese state, tired of being seen as a nation of peasants, pre-modern and repressive, where human rights are concerned is striving to be seen as a nation that has at last arrived. It was willing to host the Olympics, a decidedly Western event spawned well outside of China in Greece. But it did so for its own reasons.
And it did so on its own terms.
A CBC web posting reports that human rights groups consider the 2008 Olympics a defeat. Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch is quoted as saying, “. . . the Games has been a catalyst for abuses, leading to massive forced evictions, a surge in the arrest, detention and harassment of critics. . . Not a single world leader who attended the games seized the opportunity to challenge the Chinese government's behaviour in any meaningful way.”
This brings to (my) mind a section from the Christian Old Testament. The prophet Amos (among others actually) castigated the ruling elite of his time. While they took pride in their religious ceremonies, they were fleecing the poor and dispossessing weaker families of their ancestral lands. Of course, the 2008 Olympics was not a religious event, or was it?
Actually, this would not be the first time that the Chinese appropriated something from the West on its own terms. The Chinese government's use of Communism — which originated in the mind of a German Economist working in London, England, Karl Marx — is one such instance.
Another is the current Christian movement in China. Arguably, the real revolution in 20th Century China has not been the Communist. It is widely acknowledged today that attempts to suppress Christianity by the government have failed miserably. According to the spring 2008 issue of Christian History and Biography, since 1980, in the near total absence of Western missionaries, the number of Protestant Christians has mushroomed to about 55 million and the number of Catholic to roughly 13.
In an attempt to repress this growing movement, the government in 1983 arrested hundreds of House Church leaders and sent them to “Anti-Spiritual Pollution Camps.” To the credit of the Chinese government they were released. The late Billy Graham met with high-level officials during his visit to China in 1988, calming relations between the government and the growing Christian movement they seemed to fear.
Today the leadership of missionaries from Western churches is of little consequence. The Chinese people have learned that they are able to embrace Christianity on their own terms.
But this should not be completely surprising. Christianity did not originate in the West. It originated in the Jewish community beginning around the year 30. People in the West have appropriated it on their own terms. Likewise for many Asians and countless Africans.
Michael Veenema was a Christian chaplain at Fanshawe until 2004. He continues to write from his home and hang outs in Nova Scotia.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
